Steven Harper, Moyers & Company

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is grappling with aftermath of a Devil's Bargain with Trump. On January 6, his prior willingness to humor Trump's election lies landed him in mortal danger. But for the foreseeable future, telling the truth about Trump could kill his political career.

Like every Devil's Bargain, this one isn't going well for McConnell. He's trapped between the truth and its consequences, and it shows in his wildly contradictory actions.

First, He Blurred the Truth...

Opening Statement

"How did this happen in America?"

The answer led the House of Representatives to impeach then President Donald Trump by the largest bipartisan vote in American history. Today we continue the process of holding him accountable for incitement of insurrection against the government of the United States. The Trump Insurrection led directly to at least five deaths, injuries to 140 law enforcement officers and a scar on the heart of our democracy.

So that we all operate from the same set of indisputable facts, let's watch four short videos overviewing the events of January 6, starting with Just Security's 10-minute excerpt of Trump's 70-minute speech, which ignited an insurrection that Trump had fomented for months. Notice the mob's reaction as Trump spoke line after incendiary line....

Trump's Original Narrative Collapses

The Department of Defense's January 8, 2021 initial press release purported to "memorialize the planning and execution timeline" of the deadly insurrection that it called the "January 6, 2021 First Amendment Protests in Washington, DC."

The title was a ruse. Even so, Trump's defenders are sticking with that false characterization and trying to convert it into a defense to his impeachment. But there's no First Amendment right to incite an insurrection. And the First Amendment does not apply to whether Trump committed an impeachable offense anyway....

Let's start with the basics. The US Constitution establishes a system of checks and balances consisting of three equal branches of government – legislative (Article I), executive (Article II), and judicial (Article III). On January 6, 2021, the head of the executive branch, Donald Trump, incited a mob to attack the legislative branch and then did nothing to stop it. As a result, Congress was unable to perform its constitutional duty, which was to certify the election of the candidate who beat him – President-elect Joe Biden.

That's an impeachable offense for which the Senate can and should convict Trump and bar him from ever holding federal office again.

The Facts are Undisputed...

The Department of Defense's January 8, 2021 press release purports to "memorialize the planning and execution timeline" of the deadly insurrection that it calls the "January 6, 2021 First Amendment Protests in Washington, DC."*

The memo's minute-by-minute account creates a false illusion of transparency. In truth, its most noteworthy aspects are the omission of Trump's central role in the insurrection and the effort to shift blame away from Trump and his new Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.

Who is Christopher Miller?...