Today is Monday, June 13, 2022. With the end of today’s second January 6 investigative committee hearing, a strong case was delivered regarding the former president’s lying about election fraud in the 2020 election. Today’s public hearing proffered the argument that former president Donald Trump knew he was lying about fraud in the election – and continued to do so anyway, even to the point of fraudulently raising money from duped investors to fund his “Big Lie.” I can’t wait until a massive class action suit is filed representing those millions of investors who were duped by today’s modern-day version of P.T. Barnum. Maybe this could bankrupt him if it’s ever settled.

The most damning testimony today came from former Attorney General Bill Barr who eviscerated the former president’s assertions of election fraud with such words as “bogus,” “silly,” “complete rubbish,” and “bullshit,” which we heard the first night of the hearings. These words were used by Barr to describe Dumpf’s 2020 election lies. The January 6 Committee thoroughly dissected the anatomy of the Big Lie – and Dumpf’s former closest aides held the scalpels.

Because of the incriminating testimony offered today by Dumpf’s inner circle, we could safely say there would have not been an insurrection without Dumpf’s lies about the election being stolen. We would have had an orderly transition of power on January 20 without any kind of armed protest. The January 6 Committee established that the entire premise of Dumpf’s attempted coup was baseless and that Dumpf knew that these claims were unfounded. In my book, this testimony establishes intent.

The summation of the second public hearing of the January 6 committee is offered in an online Independent article by Ahmed Baba entitled “Voices: Today, William Barr gave the most damning testimony I’ve seen about Trump in five years of reporting.”

“Today’s hearing took us inside the White House where the decision for Trump to falsely declare victory was made.” We have a clear picture of an unhinged president who proceeded to destabilize American democracy even after he knew he lost the damn election.

The hearing was separated into two parts. The first part was dedicated to testimony from Dumpf officials like Attorney General William Barr, former campaign manager Bill Stephan, who did not show for a deposition because his wife was in labor, former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and former campaign lawyer Matt Morgan. The second part showcased attorneys who debunked specific claims of voter fraud and highlighted Dumpf’s myriad court losses.

Even though Stepien was not present in body, his video testimony aired anyway. In his startling testimony, he recommended to the president not to call the race – it was too early. Instead, we hear that Dumpf preferred to listen to an “apparently inebriated” Rudy Giuliani and falsely declared victory anyway. Thus began a lie-filled, months-long effort to overturn the election, as the nation was held captive to the iteration of the Big Lie over and over to the point of ad nauseam.

Another witness, former Fox News editor Christopher Stirewalt told the January 6 Committee that Dumpf had no basis to call the race for himself and explained the phenomenon of the “red mirage” in which one party appears to be winning an election based on the number of ballots being counted first. Dumpf’s own campaign team informed him that this would happen and even tried to stop him from attacking mail-in ballots in the months leading up to the election. Dumpf was made well aware that votes were not being “made up,” they were simply being counted. He refused to hear this advice; he pushed to “stop the count” anyway.

Baba says this about Barr’s testimony: “William Barr’s testimony was absolutely devastating for Trump. Indeed, it was some of the most damning testimony for Trump I’ve ever heard in any of the many Trump corruption hearings I’ve covered over the last five years, and that’s saying something – especially considering it came from one of Trump’s formerly biggest sycophants.” That’s a mouthful!

During the second half of the hearing, viewers saw many of these high-profile fraud claims debunked with precision. Former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, BJay Pak, revealed that Barr asked him to investigate the alleged “suitcase of ballots” video at the State Farm arena Rudy Giuliani peddled. Pak stated he found they were actually a lockbox for storing official ballots. In essence, Rudy the lawyer was lying.

Former GOP City Commissioner in Philadelphia, Al Schmidt, said that not only was there no evidence of 8,000 dead people voting in Philadelphia, there wasn’t evidence of even eight. Barr also testified that the Philadelphia fraud claims were “complete rubbish.”

Another witness debunking Dumpf’s fraudulent claims, Attorney Benjamin Ginsberg, told the committee that he looked at more than 62 cases where Dumpf contested elections around the country and found there were none where the case was made. January 6 Committee Member Rep. Zoe Lofgren also cited the 62 court losses the Dumpf Campaign suffered when litigating its election deceptions. She riddled off quotes from judges who lambasted the Dumpf’s Campaign’s claims as “gossip and innuendo,” “unsupported by evidence,” “a fundamental and obvious misreading of the Constitution,” and “a coup in search of a legal theory.” I love the last quote which accurately depicts this former president’s attempt to steal an election through fraudulent and extremely unethical means.

That’s exactly what Dumpf’s months-long effort to subvert the 2020 election was. An attempted coup without any legal justification for it. Disgusting, abhorrent, and incontrovertible evidence of wrongdoing on the part of this Orange Menace more than anything else. Are you listening, Attorney General Garland?

There is a break tomorrow in these public hearings. There is another hearing on Wednesday, June 15, at 10 a.m.

So have a good Tuesday before the next explosive hearing.

Stay safe and be well.