Reacting to a report from the Guardian's Hugo Lowell regarding the House select committee investigating the Jan 6. insurrection and Donald Trump's part in it, former GOP strategist and current Lincoln Project founder Rick Wilson lashed out at the committee members for not putting more effort into making their case public and issued a warning about what they can expect from their reluctant witnesses.
According to Lowell, "the select committee intends to hold six hearings, with the first and last in prime time, where its lawyers will run through how Trump’s schemes took shape before the election and culminated with the Capitol attack."
The Guardian report adds, "the June public hearings will explore Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, starting and ending with prime-time hearings at 8pm on the 9th and the 23rd. In between, the panel will hold 10am hearings on the 13th, 15th, 16th and 21st."
That limited schedule set off the always blunt Wilson whose first response on Twitter was, "SIX HEARINGS? SIX? Are. You. F*cking. Kidding. Me?" before adding, "Does no one understand the ballgame here?"
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According to the former GOP adviser, the witnesses likely will attempt to gobble up as much time as they can with overlong opening statements and blustering during questioning.
"The witnesses from the Trump world will filibuster, bullshit, evade and jerk themselves off on live TV for roughly 40% of the hearings. Everyone will have a long statement at the opening," he predicted before adding, "Come ON people. This is the big one. You know, the people who tried to OVERTHROW the government? WEEKS not DAYS. "
He later advised, "You have to create a spectacle. You have to make people care. You have to have drama. You have to drag and grind the people who tried to do this so long and so hard their knees bleed. A coup attempt that goes unpunished is a training exercise. FFS," before predicting, "When the GOP takes power next year and hold *months* of hearings on Hunter Biden's f*cking laptop, begins impeachment proceedings on Biden over 'failing to secure duh border' and has months of show trials about Afghanistan or antifa, remind me how great six hearings sounds."
You can see his tweets below or at this link.
2/ Does no one understand the ballgame here?\n\nThe witnesses from the Trump world will filibuster, bullshit, evade and jerk themselves off on live TV for roughly 40% of the hearings. Everyone will have a long statement at the opening.— Rick Wilson (@Rick Wilson) 1653311968
4/ I PROMISE you, if the GOP was in charge of this, the hearings would NEVER, EVER, EVER stop. \n\ncc: @kurtbardella @TaraSetmayer \n\nSix hearings means the GOP will try to disrupt them (see Gaetz et al previously) and the Democrats will mumble their objections.— Rick Wilson (@Rick Wilson) 1653312267
6/ Look, I'm glad we're getting *ANY* hearings but knowing my old party, they're going to try to turn the witness testimony into one long delaying session.\n\nMight write something longer and more cogent on this shortly.— Rick Wilson (@Rick Wilson) 1653312501
8/ Why? Because the GOP knows they can use Congressional power and hearings to shape the 2024 political battlefield up and down the ticket. \n\nThey know that propriety is a sucker's game and they'll use the power of hearings to torture the shit out of the hapless Democrats.— Rick Wilson (@Rick Wilson) 1653312765
GOP voters stumped when questioned on Antifa claimswww.youtube.com
