The January 6th Committee hearing has much in common with the scripted TV miniseries. The story, the editorial, and even Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Mark Meadows, a former White House Chief of Staff, as when the Commission announced a bonus episode. With the staff’s notification of the day.
But one thing that isn’t in the inquiry is the title of the episode. But if so, it would be difficult to resist calling this extraordinary installment a “beast.”
As White House watchers know, “Beast” is the nickname for the president’s vehicle. It also evokes the mayhem Hutchinson described in the car when the attack began. Looking back at what she told about the details of President Donald J. Trump’s security, Mr. Hutchinson took the handle after being told that Mr. Trump was unable to join the mob at the Capitol and plunged into his throat. Of his own secret service agent who said he grabbed. (Secret service officials later denied that Mr. Trump had assaulted or grabbed the agent, but did not deny that he wanted to go to the Capitol.)
One afternoon, the investigation was conducted like a Watergate hearing launched by the “24” writer’s room.
The session started with a sense of tension. Simply holding it was a risk. By curiously announcing it with little prior details, such as Netflix’s Surprise Drop, the Commission is now panned if the hearing is not fully delivered. ..
I didn’t do that. In an astonishing two-hour wall-to-wall testimony, Ms. Hutchinson set herself at just 26 years old, was measured, and described the days leading up to it on January 6th at the White House in a series of scenes. Very vivid quotations can be copied almost directly to HBO’s documentary drama.
A few days before the parliamentary assault, Trump booster and lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani asked, “Are you excited on the 6th?” There was a furious Trump throwing a White House dish, and Hutchinson wiped the ketchup off the wall.
More seriously, Mr. Trump demanded that the magnetic detectors be removed to allow armed supporters to attend the January 6 rally (“They are here to hurt me”. Not. “). And when Mr. Meadows, repeatedly described as staring at his phone, responded to Pat Cipollone, a lawyer who claimed to defend the Capitol, there was a calm exchange.
Hutchinson wasn’t as bold as Washington’s name, as some preliminary guesses speculated. (Mike Pence? Genie Thomas?) She didn’t have a professional status like a former guest like former judge J. Michael Luttig. Her testimony did not include the feelings of Georgia’s electoral worker Wandrea Moss, who spoke of her harassment and her racist abuse of doing her job. (Towards the end, Mr. Hutchinson explained her feelings about Mr. Trump’s actions on January 6: “As an American, I was sick of it.”)
However, she was a familiar figure from the story of the plot. An underrated lower level who sees and hears something and takes notes from bystanders. (Mr. Trump responded at his online outlet, Truth Social, complaining, “I don’t really know who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is.”)
Her testimony was as hearing as a bottle episode. This episode is deep in the execution of the series and breaks down to focus on a single character or incident. In fact, at the start of the session, the Commission’s Vice-Chairman, Liz Cheney of the Wyoming Republican Party, said if previous hearings focused on various aspects of efforts to overturn the 2020 elections. He said this would put together some of those threads.
The clarity of such a story is one reason the hearing made for such a well-performed television. The other is their attention to substance and style, which combines their prosecution cases with the viewer’s curiosity and the consciousness of what people then continue to speak. (The Commission provided a “previous” summary, like a fragmentary revelation of a politician seeking the president’s amnesty, and made fun of the upcoming appeal.)
Important revelation from the January 6 hearing
Tuesday’s testimony was a victory for miniature style and substance. The 45th President of the United States turned over the White House tablecloth like an angry real housewife, and was full of water cooler food, like being in beast mode with his limousine.
Also, from the White House floor plan showing how close Hutchinson is to executive action, to the mockumentary-dry “1 minute 36 seconds later” title card after Michael T. Flynn, Congress hearings. I was visually conscious. .. Former National Security Adviser Trump was asked if the January 6 violence was justified. (He took the fifth.)
But all this helped with the larger, deeper and more serious through lines. The argument that the January 6 attack was not a voluntary outburst of anger, but a bloody climax of attempts to abandon democratic elections could have been successful (and more successful in the future). May be repeated).
Part of Hutchinson’s story, on the one hand, was a flashy story behind the scenes. On the other hand, it is the story of Mr. Trump’s self-contained single episode, longing to maintain power and trying to lead an essentially armed private army to Congress.
Except for further surprises, the Commission is currently taking a mid-season break until the end of the July 4th holiday. It left the viewer with a fair amount of stories to chew during breaks. Of course, the price of success is raising the bar, and it is not yet known whether the final round of hearing will be able to pay off the accumulation, or whether it can spur actual political or legal action. ..
But this installment? It was a beast.
