Liz Cheney Raises The Right Question About The Role Of Bannon And Trump (Opinion)

Liz Cheney asks if Trump organized attack on Capitol 1:13

Editor's Note:

Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist.

She is a weekly opinion writer for CNN, a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, and a columnist for the World Politics Review.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney made an interesting observation Tuesday about Donald Trump's team's legal arguments. During a meeting of the commission investigating the Jan.6 attack on Capitol Hill, he implicitly recalled the most important aspect of the panel's work, the part that must stay at the forefront of its efforts, and a key guide to the pace of its investigation. .

Above all, the commission must try to pinpoint the role Trump played in the events of January 6, a violent assault on Congress on the day it certified the results of the 2020 elections. For many, it was a moment. key in an unprecedented coup attempt against the United States.

The commission met Tuesday night to discuss what to do with Steve Bannon - a Trump ally - and his refusal to testify despite a subpoena from the panel in which Cheney is vice chair.

(The commission passed a measure seeking to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress.)

• Steve Bannon to be held in contempt for defying a subpoena in the investigation into the assault on the Capitol

Here's the interesting point Cheney makes: Bannon and Trump fight the committee's efforts to obtain documents and testimony by invoking executive privilege, the right of a president to maintain confidentiality despite the oversight duty of Congress.

That right has been used by other presidents to protect themselves from accountability.

Bannon's claim is absurd.

He didn't even work in the government.

But in Cheney's analysis, the invocation of executive privilege by Bannon and Trump "seems to reveal one thing: it suggests that President Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of January 6."

• Trump Threatens To Use Executive Privilege As House Commission Searches For Agency Documents On Jan.6 Attack

Cheney's stinging words - and he had a few more for his fellow Republicans - are a reminder that it is crucial to find out exactly what Trump's role was during the events of that day.

And Bannon most likely knows a lot about it.

That Trump has tried to overturn the result of a legal and valid election is beyond question. We have all heard him repeat the "Big Lie" ad nauseam; the claim that he won. We have listened to the recordings of him pressuring Georgia election officials to invent a victory in which he lost: "All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have."

We have even seen a copy of a memorandum from one of his attorneys, in which he lays out a six-step plan to steal the election by having Vice President Mike Pence overturn the results in seven states, claiming there were "competing voters," when there were none. such thing.

Pence did not, and Trump supporters erected a gallows and yelled for Pence to be hanged as they stormed the Capitol on January 6, causing members of Congress to run for their lives and delay certification until later that night. .

All of that is extraordinarily conclusive, but if Trump was actually involved in organizing an attack on the Capitol, if a sitting president coordinated an insurrection against the country, that is an even greater crime.

Trump had summoned his supporters to Washington: The big protests on January 6, as he tweeted in December, "... will be wild."

At the rally that day, he boiled their emotions with an intense speech: "Fight like hell," he told them, and then encouraged them to head to the Capitol.

Regarding Bannon's involvement, the committee chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, said he believed he had significant knowledge of the attack.

Cheney said the commission's investigation has found that he had "substantial and advanced knowledge of the January 6 plans, and he likely played an important role in formulating those plans."

On January 5, he announced on his podcast: "Tomorrow All Hell Will Break Loose," cryptically explaining that it would be, "extraordinarily different from what most Americans expect."

But what about Trump?

What did he know?

In their book "Peril," journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa reported that Bannon, once Trump's top strategist, spoke to Trump before Jan. 6 and told him he should be in Washington that day.

He told the then president, "We're going to kill him in the cradle. Kill the Biden presidency in the cradle."

According to the authors, Bannon told Trump, "We're going to bury Biden ... bury him the *** time."

Trump told his supporters that he would march with them to the Capitol, and then headed to the White House, to watch it unfold on television.

He saw the images of chaos, his supporters colliding violently with the police, smashing windows, knocking down doors;

Members of Congress cowering as the mob shouted "Fight for Trump!"

and "Hang up Mike Pence."

According to "Peril," Trump's daughter Ivanka, who served as a presidential adviser, and others urged him to detain his supporters, but he refused.

Retired General Keith Kellogg told him, "This is out of control ... once a mob starts acting like this, you've lost it," and advised, "You really should tweet."

Apparently, Trump blinked and went back to watching television.

Finally, hours after the insurgents broke through the barricades and stormed the Capitol, Trump relented and posted a video telling his followers that he understood their pain, lying again about the theft of the election, adding: “ Go home, we love you, you are very special ”.

• ANALYSIS |

  Accountability of a senior US general on Capitol Hill may once again showcase Trump's political storms

There is much that the select commission of Congress on January 6 must establish.

But as Cheney's comment reminds us, nothing is more important than the precise actions of the then commander-in-chief.

Knowing what role Trump played is crucial to the administration of justice and establishing the historical record, but even more than that ... because this chapter is not yet relegated to the pages of history.

Trump continues to deny that he was the loser in the 2020 election, and seems ready to run for president again, potentially claiming that he won no matter what American voters decide.

The January 6 commission needs to pick up the pace and sharpen its focus.

Every second counts.

Attack on Capitol HillDonald TrumpSteve Bannon