‘It was planned’: Jan 6 committee vows to ‘connect the dots’ between Trump, extremist groups

On the next episode of the House Democrats’ big show, the “bipartisan” Jan. 6 panel will focus their attention on “connecting the dots” from former President Donald Trump to so-called right-wing extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.

And as with any ongoing television drama, they are teasing Tuesday’s morning event in the mainstream media.

“Heading into the next hearing on Tuesday, members of the panel are already promising to reveal previously undisclosed information they say will substantiate” the committee’s previous claims that there are “direct links between some of Trump’s closest allies and leaders of several prominent nationalist groups now accused of spearheading the attack [on the Capitol],” The Hill reports.

According to the outlet, select committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) went on MSNBC on Thursday and said, “We will be connecting the dots, as people know. This wasn’t just an event that unfolded. It was planned.”

“Who did the planning, and who were they connected with?” she asked. “How did it unfold?”

The Hill admits that, so far, “the committee has not yet demonstrated direct connections between the Trump confidantes and the extremist groups that were on the front lines of the violence at the Capitol,” and it’s those associations that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who will be leading Tuesday’s questioning with Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), has “promised to dig into.”

Outside organizations dedicated to monitoring alleged “hate groups” can’t wait to hear what Raskin uncovers.

“If coordination did exist, what form did it take?” Southern Poverty Law Center Senior Research Analyst Cassie Miller asked. “Who were the conduits for information?”

And if he doesn’t uncover a thing, it doesn’t really matter, according to Miller, because it’ll still be Trump’s fault.

“[W]e should also recognize that formal coordination wasn’t necessary for Trump to impact the actions of groups like the Proud Boys during the months leading up to the insurrection or during the day itself,” she said. “This is a group that has long wanted to act as the foot soldiers for Trumpism, and the Stop the Steal movement and insurrection gave them the opportunity to do so.”

The Hill then points to Trump associates Michael Flynn and Roger Stone and their reported use of “security details provided by far-right groups” to make Miller’s case.

“Both Flynn and Stone, for instance, have long been known to use security details provided by far-right groups, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and 1st Amendment Praetorian, which had protected Flynn during an election protest in Washington in mid-December,” The Hill stated.

Citing the completely debunked testimony of former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson, The Hill claimed, ” While neither Stone nor Flynn was a part of the Trump campaign or administration on Jan. 6, the investigation has turned up a direct link.”

Hutchinson, the paper continues, said she is “under the impression” that Meadows spoke to Stone and Flynn at the behest of President Trump on Jan. 5, “but had no indication of what was said.”

She also claimed she heard the words “Oath Keeper” and “Proud Boys” sometime around the planning of the Jan. 6 rally when Giuliani “would be around.”

Yup. A “direct link.”

Again, even if the link is non-existent, it just doesn’t matter, according to Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Senior Fellow Rachel Kleinfeld, because Trump was so darn good at mobilizing extremists.

“It’s not that Trump was calling the Oath Keepers — although Roger Stone may have been,” she said. “It is that Trump or the Trump campaign was organizing this response so that it was ready and so that it could pressure Republicans who wouldn’t do his bidding and ultimately pressure actors who [were needed] to carry out one part or another of this plan.”

In totally unrelated news, it has been five years and 18 days since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained to the world the meaning of the term “Wrap-Up smear.”

Melissa Fine

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