On Thursday's edition of MSNBC's "The Beat," longtime Republican strategist and Lincoln Project figure Rick Wilson outlined the significance of Donald Trump ally Newt Gingrich being called to provide testimony to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack.
The letter sent to Gingrich earlier today indicates the committee has evidence that Gingrich both advised Trump to run ads promoting various 2020 election conspiracy theories and had ties to the plot to declare fake Trump electors in states President Joe Biden won.
"Any comment about Newt Gingrich now being a target of ... the January 6th Committee, to be able to go and speak about his involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 election?" asked anchor Katie Phang.
"Katie, there's a rule in Washington that if you say Newt Gingrich's name three times, he appears like the Candyman," said Wilson. "He pops up like a bad penny over and over again. In one way, I'm not shocked at all. Because Gingrich is an opportunist. He saw Trump as a great way to enhance his fading profile, so of course, he's going to give Trump the terrible advice he's given generations of Republican politicians. And I'm delighted, actually, that one more person who can be an element in unraveling this entire maze that the Trump effort to overturn the election put together has been called to account."
Gingrich, argued Wilson, can provide a massive amount of useful information to investigators — and he faces severe risks if he tries to stonewall them.
"The committee, I think, will get a lot out of Newt," said Wilson. "He is a guy who communicates with a lot of people. He talks on the phone with a lot of people. You'll get his text messages, his calls, the metadata of who he was talking to. And this is a guy who loves to put himself in the middle of anything. So I think this is going to be a valuable lead for the committee to run down. And it's a reminder that, for all the other trouble that Donald Trump and his team of skells and goons and weirdos right now are facing. They still face the 1/6 Committee until January of next year. And hell hath no fury like Liz Cheney and the people of that committee if Newt Gingrich wants to play games with them. I think it's going to turn very ugly, very fast."
Watch below or at this link.
Rick Wilson on J6 Committee's move to seek testimony from Newt Gingrichwww.youtube.com
