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	Fair trial doubts as Kem Sokha treason case resumes in Cambodia by Phorn Bopha ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, agencies   Aug. 2023 (UN News)   The lead-up to, and the results of, the recent elections in Cambodia are “extremely disconcerting”, UN human rights experts said on Wednesday, adding that the credibility of the entire electoral process was affected.   Cambodians went to the polls on 23 July, amid shrinking civic and political space, including a ban on the main opposition party, media restrictions and harassment of perceived opponents of the ruling elite, UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts said.   “As a result, the national elections were very unbalanced and raised major concerns for the international community,” they said in a news release.   The experts, including Vitit Muntarbhorn, Special Rapporteur on human rights in the country, warned that the shrinking democratic space and repressive practices linked to Cambodia’s political leadership seriously undermined human rights and liberal democracy under its international obligations and the Paris Peace Agreements.   The October 1991 accords ended the conflict in the Southeast Asian nation. They also provided for the withdrawal of foreign forces, cessation of outside military assistance and national reconciliation.   Abide by international obligations   “Cambodia’s new government must abide by its international human rights obligations and the Paris Peace Agreements and address an array of serious human rights violations – old and new – which impede sustainable and inclusive development in the country,” the UN experts said.   They added that Cambodia’s human rights record will be considered by the UN Human Rights Council later this year, bringing the country’s 2022 commune elections and 2023 national elections into international focus.   “Thirty years since peace was assured by the Paris Peace Agreements, a major obstacle remains the failure to ensure and protect human rights and the systemic undermining of democratic principles,” they said.   With the Prime Minister of Cambodia expected to transfer power to his eldest son in the near future, the international community must remain vigilant and prepare a cohesive international response to the country’s democratic crisis, the experts said.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/cambodia-un-human-rights-expert-concerned-succession-plans-urges-structural http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/08/1139367   Phnom Penh, Cambodia – A Cambodian court has resumed a treason case against main opposition leader Kem Sokha after an almost two-year delay blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic.   Kem Sokha, the former leader of the now-outlawed Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested and charged with treason in 2017, a year before Cambodia held its 2018 national election.   Sokha, 68, was accused of trying to overthrow the government with the backing of the United States. The case led to the forced dissolution of the CNRP, the main electoral threat to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).   The CPP is led by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for more than three decades.   The international communities and many within the country have condemned the case against Sokha, calling it “politically motivated”.   “He shouldn’t have been imprisoned or charged,” said Ou Virak, president of Future Forum, a think-tank dedicated to public policy issues.   Despite broad criticism, the government has pressed ahead.   Chin Malin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice and the government’s Cambodian Human Rights Commission (CHRC), claimed there was enough evidence for the case to proceed.   “Regarding the case of Kem Sokha, the court has correctly carried out its judicial authority in compliance with the law,” he said.   Sokha’s treason trial, which started in January 2020 was delayed soon after in March as the first cases of coronavirus began to emerge.   “Now we have COVID-19 under control, so we can move ahead with the trial,” Y Rin, Phnom Penh court spokesperson, told Al Jazeera.   Sokha’s defence team says they are “hopeful” and ready to defend the veteran politician in court.   “We, our-co lawyers, and our client are ready to go to trial,” said Sokha’s defence lawyer Chan Chen. “We have hope to win. As I have said before, my client has done nothing wrong as alleged.”   While the defence lawyers are positive about winning the case, many are more sceptical. Critics have condemned the proceedings as politically motivated.   “I would be surprised if he’s not found guilty. The court hardly acquitted political cases in Cambodia,” said Virak, a former President of Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), a local human rights organisation founded by Sokha.   “I am expecting further delays. The best-case scenario, unlikely, is a conviction and then a suspended sentence. Even so, Kem Sokha will not be automatically politically rehabilitated. That will require further political negotiation and compromise.”   Fair trial doubts   After local elections in 2017, in which the CNRP turned in a strong performance, hundreds of police raided Sokha’s house.   Sokha was arrested for treason, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The charge was based on a video in which Sokha said he had received advice from the US on how to build up an opposition movement.   Critics and the international community have largely dismissed the case as spurious. They say the real reason Sokha was arrested was that the CNRP had become too popular.   “I fail to see any legal justification for his arrest. The government simply wanted to make sure the main opposition party (CNRP) would not be able to compete effectively in future elections and this was the main reason for his arrest,” said Sorpong Peou, a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University.   “The Cambodian court remains highly politicised and is unlikely to give him a fair trial. Cambodian politics remain highly volatile because it is all about the politics of survival.   “The incumbent regime always faces what I call a legitimacy crisis and thus prefers to rely on coercive means to stay in power,” he said.   Cambodia’s judiciary system is one of the world’s worst, according to the World Justice Project (WJP).   In a report from October, which ranked countries based on factors such as the protection of fundamental rights, civil justice, regulatory enforcement, and absence of corruption, Cambodia finished second last – 138th out of 139 countries – just above Venezuela.   The US has continued to call on the Cambodian authorities “to stop politically motivated trials” against the political opposition, and dissidents such as Sokha, journalists, labour, and environmental activists, said Chad Roedemeier, the spokesperson for US Embassy Phnom Penh.   “Promoting democracy and respect for human rights is central to US foreign policy in Cambodia and around the world,” he added.   The CPP has long dominated the country’s politics and is completely entwined with all state and military institutions. Its central committee includes top judges, military generals and bureaucrats.   It faced its toughest electoral challenge in 2013 when it faced the CNRP, which was created through the merger of Sokha’s Human Rights Party and an eponymous party led by long time opposition figure Sam Rainsy.   The CNRP won 44 percent of the national vote on that occasion, and four years later secured almost half the vote in local elections.   With a general election looming, Hun Sen’s government moved to crack down on the opposition party and other critical voices, including civil society and independent media.   With Sokha under arrest, the Cambodia Daily, an English-language daily owned by an American family and known for its probing journalism, was forced to close after it was presented with a hefty tax bill of more than $6m. Another independent newspaper, The Phnom Penh Post was forced to sell to a businessman reportedly tied to the government after it too was given a large tax bill.   Sam Rainsy, a longtime prominent leader and Sokha’s political partner at the CNRP, fled the country after he and his colleagues were charged with a myriad of cases.   In October 2021, he and his team including Mu Sochua, another prominent opposition politician, were charged with “conspiracy in treason and incitement to cause chaos to social security” under Cambodia’s criminal law, in addition to the multiple existing charges they already faced. Both are in exile.   “The entire trial is a farce, based on fabricated, politically motivated charges that bear no semblance to reality. The reason there is a trial is PM Hun Sen wanted an excuse to dissolve the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) which was threatening his power by garnering significant support from the Cambodian people,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.   “Sokha’s trial is a paramount symbol of Hun Sen’s purge of democracy, based on lies, intimidation, arbitrary arrests, and pliant, lapdog courts that answer to the ruling party only.”   Previous waves of repression during Hun Sen’s 36 years in power have usually subsided after those targeted made political deals.   Sam Rainsy was granted a royal pardon that allowed him to return to the country from a previous period of exile and run in the 2013 election.   Other CNRP leaders have been allowed to re-enter politics after seeking so-called “rehabilitation” from the government.   Mu Sochua expects that Kem Sokha will be found guilty and the cycle will continue.   “It won’t be a fair trial; all charges are trumped up. It is total political manoeuvring to keep Hun Sen in power,” she said.   “Kem Sokha will be found guilty and pardoned by the king. There should never be any doubt that Hun Sen wants to ease the political tensions now that Cambodia is chairing ASEAN.”   Cambodia is this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Hun Sen’s courting of the generals who seized power in Myanmar a year ago has already created controversy in an organisation best known for its policy of “non-interference” in each other’s affairs.   “Because this is a political trial, I doubt if the court will not find him guilty. I don’t see how the Cambodian role as host of ASEAN in 2022 will have any impact,” said political analyst Sorpong Peou. “Non-interference is one of the ASEAN norms. Nothing can be done about what has happened in Myanmar either.”   Sokha was released from house arrest in late 2019. He has met several ambassadors and travelled throughout the country since, but has abided by a court-imposed ban on political activities.   Robertson, of Human Rights Watch, believes the case against Sokha is designed to drag on for “as long as possible” to keep him out of politics and “always looking over his shoulder” for fear of being returned to jail.   Still, as a new round of local and national elections approach, the trial will be closely watched.   “We encourage all parties involved to uphold the right of the defendants to a fair trial and to ensure the presumption of innocence, the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, is respected and protected throughout,” said Pradeep Wagle, the representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia.   The accused must be protected “with other fundamental human rights, including the right to freedom of association, assembly, and expression enshrined in international human rights law, voluntarily accepted by Cambodia prior to the arrests,” he added.   “We particularly hope to see these three rights upheld by Cambodian authorities in the lead-up to commune and national elections.”   Sokha could not be reached for comment, while his daughter, Monovithya Kem, declined to comment. “After the trial, I will,” Monovithya said.   * Bopha Phorn is a Cambodian jounalist, this story was published by Al Jazeera. The Phnom Penh municipal court on March 3, 2023, found the Cambodian political opposition leader Kem Sokha guilty of treason and sentenced him to a 27 year prison sentence, and indefinitely suspended his political rights to vote and to stand for election.   http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/01/30/cambodia-court-ruling-keeps-opposition-leader-custody http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/07/cambodia-un-human-rights-chief-regrets-elections-held-restrictive http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/07/1139107 http://aseanmp.org/2023/07/24/southeast-asian-mps-and-international-csos-denounce-undemocratic-elections-in-cambodia-urge-international-community-not-to-lend-legitimacy-to-hun-sens-regime/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2023/03/press-briefing-notes-cambodia http://www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/03/cambodia-opposition-leader-convicted-bogus-charges http://www.hrw.org/asia/cambodia http://aseanmp.org/2022/09/22/asean-mps-condemn-latest-trials-against-cambodian-political-opposition-as-an-assault-on-democracy/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2020/01/cambodia-un-experts-say-kem-sokha-trial-tainted http://aseanmp.org/2023/01/27/asean-governments-must-stop-using-lawfare-against-critics-southeast-asian-mps-say/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2023/01/asean-parliamentarians-cannot-escape-lawfare-violations-human-rights/
	Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election put constitutional democracy at risk by PBS, NPR, ABC, Washington Post, agencies USA   Aug. 2023   Trump indicted on federal charges in Jan. 6 case, Special Counsel Jack Smith announces.   Donald Trump was indicted on felony charges Tuesday for working to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol, as the Justice Department moved to hold him accountable for his efforts to block the peaceful transfer of power.   The four-count indictment reveals new details about a dark chapter in modern American history, detailing handwritten notes from former Vice President Mike Pence about Trump’s relentless goading as well as how Trump sought to exploit the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot to remain in office.   Even in a year of rapid-succession legal reckonings for Trump, Tuesday’s criminal case, with charges including conspiring to defraud the United States government that he once led, was especially stunning in its allegations that a former president assaulted the underpinnings of democracy in a frantic but ultimately failed effort to cling to power.   It accuses him of repeatedly lying about the election results, turning aside repeated overtures from some aides to tell the truth but conspiring with others to try to improperly change vote totals in his favor. It says that on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, he attempted to “exploit” the chaos by pushing to delay the certification of the election results even after the building was cleared of violent protesters.   Trump’s claims of having won the election, said the indictment, were “false, and the Defendant knew they were false. But the defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway — to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, to create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and to erode public faith in the administration of the election.”   Federal prosecutors say Donald Trump was “determined to remain in power” in conspiracies that targeted a “bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.”   The indictment, the third criminal case brought against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024, follows a long-running federal investigation into schemes by Trump and his allies to subvert the peaceful transfer of power and keep him in office despite a decisive loss to Joe Biden.   http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-trump-indicted-on-federal-charges-in-jan-6-case-special-counsel-jack-smith-announces http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-full-the-indictment-against-trump-for-his-efforts-to-overturn-the-2020-election http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-the-full-georgia-indictment-against-trump-and-18-allies http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-indicted-in-georgia-2020-election-case http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-has-been-indicted-for-a-3rd-time-heres-where-all-the-investigations-stand   19 Dec. 2022   The House committee investigating the Capitol riot will make its final public presentation Monday about the unprecedented effort by Donald Trump to overturn the results of the presidential election he lost in 2020. The committee has called it an “attempted coup” that warrants criminal prosecution from the Justice Department. That is expected to be the committee’s closing argument as it prepares to release a final report detailing its findings about the insurrection in the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory. http://bit.ly/3HQwE3I   Key takeaways from the Jan. 6 committee report summary. (PBS Newshour, agencies)   Donald Trump referred to US Department of Justice for four potential criminal charges by January 6th Committee.   In its final public meeting, the January 6 committee has unanimously voted to refer Donald Trump and several of his allies to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for potential criminal prosecution over the storming of the US Capitol in 2021.   The house select committee spent 18 months investigating the deadly riot on the capitol, as well as the former president's "multi-part plan" to overturn the 2020 presidential election conducting interviews with more than 1,000 witnesses.   The house select committee voted to recommend the DOJ charge Mr Trump with four federal crimes, marking the first time congress has made a criminal referral against a former president in American history.   "If we are to survive as a nation of laws and democracy, this can never happen again," committee chair Bennie Thompson said in his opening address. "So today, beyond our findings, we will also show that evidence we've gathered points to further action beyond the power of this committee or the congress to help ensure accountability on the law. "Accountability that can only be found in the criminal justice system."   The committee confirmed it planned to hand over its evidence and a roadmap to prosecute Mr Trump and several of his high-profile associates for federal crimes, including aiding insurrection.   Committee member Jamie Raskin said the panel would make criminal referrals where "the gravity of the specific offence, the severity of its actual harm, and the centrality of the offender to the overall design of the unlawful scheme to overthrow the election" could not be ignored.   "Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass," he said. Mr Raskin then detailed why the committee believed there was sufficient evidence in its report to make a criminal referral against Mr Trump to the justice department for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election result.   The four potential charges it cited include:   Obstruction of an official proceeding: The committee found the "whole purpose and obvious effect of Trump's scheme were to obstruct, influence and impede" the joint session of congress on January 6, 2021, to certify Joe Biden's victory.   Conspiracy to defraud the US government: Mr Raskin said Mr Trump "entered into agreements, formal and informal, with several other individuals who assisted him with his criminal objectives" to obstruct a lawful certification of the election.   Making false statements to the US government: The committee believes Mr Trump "conspired with others to submit slates of fake electors to Congress and the National Archives".   Insurrection: Mr Raskin said the committee had developed "significant evidence" that Mr Trump intended to disrupt the peaceful transition of power as set out under the US constitution   Mr Raskin described the final charge as a "rebellion against the authority of the United States". The committee alleged the former president committed insurrection by encouraging the January 6 attack and then failing to put a stop to it.   "The president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to act, to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," he said. "Nothing could be a greater betrayal of this duty than to assist in insurrection against the constitutional order."   The members of the panel were asked to vote on the referrals, which they passed unanimously.   In the executive summary released by the committee, the former president's alleged misconduct and leading role related to the events of Jan. 6, 2021 are highlighted:   Using lies and provocation. Starting election night 2020, the committee’s report summary states that “Donald Trump purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud” in order to overturn the election outcome and raise money. Those lies directly provoked his supporters on Jan. 6.   Not honoring the Constitution. Trump did not honor his constitutional obligation to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” the committee concluded, but instead plotted to overturn the election outcome.   Pressuring Pence. Trump knew it was illegal, but he “corruptly pressured” then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes on Jan. 6, the committee found.   Targeting the Department of Justice. According to the committee, Trump tried to convince DOJ officials to lie to help overturn the election. When that failed, he offered the job of acting attorney general to a man — Jeffrey Clark — who, according to past witness testimonies, planned to do those things.   Pressuring state officials. Without evidence and against the law, Trump pressured state officials and lawmakers to change election results.   False electors. Trump oversaw an effort to create and submit false electoral certificates to Congress and the National Archives.   Pressuring members of Congress. Trump pressured members of Congress to object to several states’ electors.   False information in court. Trump “purposely verified false information” filed in federal court, the committee found.   Summoning and provoking the crowd. Trump summoned tens of thousands of supporters to Washington with baseless claims of election fraud. Although those supporters were known to be angry and armed, he instructed them to march to the Capitol to “take back” their country.   Condemning Pence during the attack. On Jan. 6, Trump purposely went on social media and condemned Pence, knowing the attack was underway and his own words would incite more violence.   Failing to act. For hours, Trump watched the attack, but refused repeated calls to tell his supporters to end the violence and leave the Capitol.   Conspiracy. These actions by Trump were each part of a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the committee found.   http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-key-findings-and-criminal-referrals-from-the-jan-6-committee-report-summary http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-jan-6-committee-hearings-the-final-report http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/exploring-the-threats-to-democracy-that-remain-two-years-after-jan-6 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/jan-6-hearings http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/january-6-insurrection-capitol-attack-documentaries-streaming/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/january-6-capitol-riot/ http://january6th.house.gov/report-executive-summary   13 Oct. 2022   Jan. 6 Committee hearings – Day 9 (PBS)   The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena Donald Trump, demanding the former president’s personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video from his closest aides describing his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss that resulted in the Jan assault on the U.S. Capitol.   “We must seek the testimony under oath of January Sixth’s central player,” said Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the committee’s vice chair.   Trump is almost certain to fight the subpoena and decline to testify. In the committee’s ninth public session, just weeks before the congressional midterm elections, the panel summed up Trump’s “staggering betrayal” of his oath of office. That was how Democratic Chairman Bennie Thompson put it, describing Trump’s unprecedented attempt to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.   With vivid new details and evidence, including from the former president’s Cabinet secretaries and U.S. Secret Service, the panel showed Trump was told repeatedly by those around him that the election was over, yet he still orchestrated the far-reaching effort to stop Biden from taking office. Several former aides testified that Trump had said privately that he knew he had lost to Biden.   Earlier, in never-before-seen Secret Service messages, the panel produced evidence that extremist groups provided the muscle in the fight for Trump’s presidency, planning weeks before the attack to send a violent force to Washington.   The House panel warned that the insurrection at the Capitol was not an isolated incident but a warning of the fragility of the nation’s democracy in the post-Trump era.   “None of this is normal or acceptable or lawful in a republic,” Cheney declared. “There is no defense that Donald Trump was duped or irrational. No president can defy the rule of law and act this way in a constitutional republic, period.”   Statements from Thompson and Cheney were laden with language frequently seen in criminal indictments. Both lawmakers described Trump as “substantially” involved in the events of Jan. 6. Cheney said Trump had acted in a “premeditated” way.   To illustrate what it said were “purposeful lies,” the committee juxtaposed repeated instances in which top administration officials recounted telling Trump the actual facts with clips of him repeating the exact opposite at his pre-riot rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6.   http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-jan-6-committee-hearings-day-9 http://www.justsecurity.org/77022/january-6-clearinghouse/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/13/jan-6-hearings-are-over-time-vote/ http://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2022/10/07/democracy-on-the-ballot-how-many-election-deniers-are-on-the-ballot-in-november-and-what-is-their-likelihood-of-success/ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/13/us/politics/republican-candidates-2020-election-misinformation.html http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-powerful-conservatives-pushed-the-big-lie-that-the-2020-election-was-fraudulent   http://www.propublica.org/series/the-insurrection http://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege http://civilrights.org/resource/leadership-conference-and-democracy-groups-urge-social-media-platforms-to-address-voter-disinformation-ahead-of-midterms/ http://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/campaign-of-fear/ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/threat-of-political-instability-rises-as-candidates-indicate-they-wont-concede-defeat http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/concerns-grow-over-the-increasing-ties-between-christianity-and-right-wing-nationalism http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-michigan-lawmaker-says-we-will-not-let-hate-win   June 2022   The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is unveiling the first details of its findings in a prime-time televised hearings. It is the culmination of a year of investigation into the events on and before Jan. 6, as former President Donald Trump worked to overturn the results of the 2020 election.   President Joe Biden: "As I said when it was occurring and subsequently, I think it was a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution.. That broke the law by trying to turn around the result of an election. And there's a lot of questions who's responsible, who's involved. I'm not going to make a judgment on that. But I want you to know a lot of Americans are going to be seeing for the first time the details of just what occurred".   One of the main points that the Committee will highlight is the role of former President Trump. They will make the case that this was a multistep conspiracy that led to the January 6 insurrection, and that President Trump himself was central to it. Of course, the former president, his allies and Republicans will try to deny that.   The Committee has interviewed over 1,000 witnesses so far, and issued 100 subpoenas. If you look at those subpoenas, the largest group of those are for Trump officials and those the committee believes helped organize the storming of the Capitol on January 6.   The chairman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election declared at Thursday’s prime-time hearing that the attack was an “attempted coup” that put “two and half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk.”   Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said “the world is watching” the U.S. response to the panel’s year long investigation into the Capitol riot and the defeated president’s extraordinary effort to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory. He called it a “brazen attempt” to overturn the election. “Democracy remains in danger,” Thompson said. “We must confront the truth with candor, resolve and determination.”   The committee was presenting never-before-seen video and a mass of other evidence, detailing the “harrowing story” of the deadly violence that day and also the chilling backstory as Trump, the defeated president, tried to overturn President Biden’s election victory.   Thursday night’s hearing layed out in gripping detail that the deadly Jan. 6th violence was no accident. Instead, the panel declared it was the result of Trump’s repeated lies about election fraud and public calls for his supporters to come to Washington and his private campaign at the highest levels of government to block Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory.   “President Trump summoned a violent mob,” said Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the panel’s vice chair. “When a president fails to take the steps necessary to preserve our union — or worse, causes a constitutional crisis — we’re in a moment of maximum danger for our republic.”   There was an audible gasp in the hearing room, when Cheney read an account that said when Trump was told the Capitol mob was chanting for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged, Trump responded that maybe they were right, that he “deserves it.”   The Jan. 6 riot left more than 100 police officers injured, many beaten and bloodied, as the crowd of pro-Trump rioters, some armed with pipes, baseball bats and other would be weapons, charged into the Capitol.   Among those in the audience at the hearings are several current and former police officers who fought the mob in a desperate battle to protect the Capitol and lawmakers who were trapped together in the House.   “We want to remind people, we were there, we saw what happened,” said Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn. ”We know how close we came to the first non-peaceful transition of power in this country.”   The committee chairman, civil rights leader Thompson opened the hearing with sweep of American history. saying he heard in those denying the stark reality of Jan. 6 his own experience growing up in a time and place “where people justified the action of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan and lynching.”   He and vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, outlined what the committee has learned about the events leading up to that brisk January day when Trump sent his supporters to Congress to “fight like hell” for his presidency as lawmakers undertook the typically routine job of certifying the previous November’s results.   In the weeks ahead, the panel is expected to detail Trump’s public campaign to “Stop the Steal” and the private pressure he put on the Justice Department to reverse his election loss — despite dozens of failed court cases and his own attorney general attesting there was no fraud on a scale that could have tipped the results in his favor.   The Justice Department has arrested and charged more than 800 people for the violence that day, the biggest dragnet in its history.   June 2022   Why the televised hearings on the January 6 insurrection will be historic, writes Robert Reich - former US secretary of labor, and professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley:   The televised hearings of the House select committee on the January 6 insurrection, which begin on Thursday, mark an historic milestone in the battle between democracy and autocracy. The events that culminated in the attack on the Capitol constitute the first attempted presidential coup in our nation’s 233-year history.   The January 6 insurrection was not an isolated event. It was part of a concerted effort by Trump to use his lie that the 2020 election was stolen as a means to engineer a coup, while whipping up anger and distrust among his supporters toward our system of government. Yet not a shred of evidence has ever been presented to support Trump’s claim that voter fraud affected the outcome of the 2020 election.   Consider (to take but one example) Trump’s phone call to Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, in which he pressured Raffensperger to change the presidential vote count in Georgia in order to give Trump more votes than Biden.   “All I want to do is this,” Trump told Raffensperger in a recorded phone call. “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.” Trump threatened Raffensperger with criminal liability if he did not do so. Trump’s actions appear to violate 18 USC § 371, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and 18 USC § 1512, obstruction of Congress.   The justice department is conducting a criminal investigation into these activities. The attorney general, Merrick Garland, has said that the justice department will “follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead”. As with Watergate, the facts will almost certainly lead to the person who then occupied the Oval Office.   This week’s televised committee hearings are crucial to educating the public and setting the stage for the justice department’s prosecution.   Federal district court judge David Carter in a civil case brought against the committee by John Eastman, Trump’s lawyer and adviser in the coup attempt, has set the framework for the hearings. Judge Carter found that it was:   "more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021,” and concluded that Trump and Eastman “launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history […] The illegality of the plan was obvious.”   Those who claim that a president cannot be criminally liable for acts committed while in office apparently forget that Richard Nixon avoided prosecution only because he was pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford.   Those who argue that Trump should not be criminally liable because no president in American history has been criminally liable, overlook the fact that no president in history has staged an attempted coup to change the outcome of an election.   Without accountability for these acts, Trump’s criminality opens wide the door to future presidents and candidates disputing election outcomes and seeking to change them – along with ensuing public distrust, paranoia and divisiveness". http://robertreich.org/   http://january6th.house.gov/news http://january6th.house.gov/ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-biggest-takeaways-from-the-jan-6-hearings http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-jan-6-committee-hearings-day-8 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/jan-6-committee http://www.c-span.org/organization/?139816/Select-Committee-Investigate-January-6th-Attack-United-States-Capitol http://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/21/opinion/january-6-trump-military.html http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-jan-6-committee-chair-rep-bennie-thompson-calls-capitol-riot-the-culmination-of-an-attempted-coup http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-some-members-of-the-republican-party-have-normalized-the-use-of-violent-rhetoric   http://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/video/january-6-hearing-liz-cheney-opening-remarks/#x http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-the-capitol-attack-unfolded http://abcnews.go.com/US/january6/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/jan-6-insurrection-capitol/ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/us/politics/jan-6-timeline.html http://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/23/opinion/trump-mar-a-lago-indictment.html http://www.project-syndicate.org/bigpicture/anti-democracy-in-america http://markdanner.com/2022/09/14/trump-the-slow-motion-coup-part-i/   http://www.justsecurity.org/81898/the-gops-militia-problem-proud-boys-oath-keepers-and-lessons-from-abroad/ http://www.justsecurity.org/82177/the-january-6th-hearings-criminal-evidence-tracker-sixth-edition/ http://www.justsecurity.org/82619/expert-explainer-criminal-statutes-that-could-apply-to-trumps-retention-of-government-documents/ http://www.justsecurity.org/75032/litigation-tracker-pending-criminal-and-civil-cases-against-donald-trump/ http://bit.ly/3Pla8jN http://www.brookings.edu/research/trump-on-trial/ http://www.brookings.edu/research/fulton-county-georgias-trump-investigation/ http://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/measuring-success-january-6-congressional-hearings http://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/trumps-big-lie-led-insurrection   http://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2022/6/6/23157322/jan-6-conggressional-hearings-democracy-racism-jesse-jackson-column http://bit.ly/3NG2AYI http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-capitol-breach http://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/06/january-6-committee-trump-republicans-dishonor/661251/ http://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-the-january-6th-hearings-are-really-about http://www.npr.org/live-updates/capitol-insurrection-hearing-2022-06-09 http://www.npr.org/2022/01/06/1069979415/biden-harris-jan-6-insurrection-speech http://www.npr.org/2021/12/23/1065277246/trump-big-lie-jan-6-election http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/plot-to-overturn-the-election/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/topic/election-2020/ http://www.cartercenter.org/news/editorials_speeches/jimmy-carter-nyt-op-ed-010522.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/01/05/transcript-jan-6-one-year-later-with-rep-jamie-raskin-d-md/   http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/14/more-than-100-gop-primary-winners-back-trumps-false-fraud-claims/ http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/year-jan-trump-pushing-big-lie-analysis/story?id=81749379 http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/january-6-insurrection-trump-coup-2024-election/620843/ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-powerful-conservatives-pushed-the-big-lie-that-the-2020-election-was-fraudulent http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-mass-movement-based-on-election-lies-is-threatening-american-democracy http://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/2-weeks-after-it-called-election-fox-news-cast-doubt-results-nearly-800-times   http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/01/dark-lessons-of-jan-6-capitol-assault/ http://www.interaction.org/blog/reflections-on-the-legacy-of-january-6/ http://www.americanoversight.org/news-roundup-a-coordinated-coup-attempt http://www.newyorker.com/tag/capitol-riot http://www.rollingstone.com/t/jan-6-committee/ http://www.vanityfair.com/live/jan-6-hearings-live-updates http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/dem/releases/following-8-month-investigation-senate-judiciary-committee-releases-report-on-donald-trumps-scheme-to-pressure-doj-and-overturn-the-2020-election http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/subverting-justice-how-the-former-president-and-his-allies-pressured-doj-to-overturn-the-2020-election http://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/growing-election-sabotage-movement http://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/election-sabotage-scheme-and-how-congress-can-stop-it   Jan. 2022   U.S. President Joe Biden spoke from the US Capitol on the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection and condemned former President Donald Trump as a threat to democracy. (Extract):   "My fellow Americans: To state the obvious, one year ago today, democracy was attacked -- simply attacked. The will of the people was under assault. The Constitution -- our Constitution -- faced the gravest of threats.   Outnumbered and in the face of a brutal attack, the Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, the National Guard, and other brave law enforcement officials saved the rule of law. Our democracy held. We the people endured. And we the people prevailed.   For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election, he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol. But they failed. And on this day of remembrance, we must make sure that such an attack never, never happens again..   http://www.npr.org/2022/01/06/1069979415/biden-harris-jan-6-insurrection-speech http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-biden-harris-mark-anniversary-of-of-jan-6-capitol-riot http://www.pbs.org/newshour/series/jan-6-one-year-later http://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/capitol-insurrection http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-biden-speaks-on-the-state-of-democracy-in-philadelphia http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/mainstream-presence-of-proud-boys-other-extreme-groups-creates-mass-radicalization-fears/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/republican-leaders-helped-2020-election-lie-catch-fire-documentary-trump-biden/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interview-collection/lies-politics-and-democracy/ http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/election-experts-worry-american-democracy/story?id=89133703 http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/republicans-trump-election-fraud/ http://democracyscorecard.org/   http://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/01/05/transcript-jan-6-one-year-later-with-rep-jamie-raskin-d-md/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/01/06/transcript-jan-6-one-year-later-with-rep-adam-kinzinger-r-ill/ http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/year-jan-trump-pushing-big-lie-analysis/story?id=81749379 http://insurrectionindex.org/ http://www.accountable.us/research/in-bad-company/ http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/01/dark-lessons-of-jan-6-capitol-assault/ http://www.americanoversight.org/news-roundup-a-coordinated-coup-attempt http://www.interaction.org/blog/reflections-on-the-legacy-of-january-6/ http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2022-01-10/democracy-talk-cheap http://www.citizen.org/news/coalition-urges-u-s-government-to-stand-up-for-democracy-at-home/ Visit the related web page
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