In what could be the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol final public hearing last week Chairman Benny G. Thompson (D-MS) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) meticulously put together the last puzzle pieces of the plot to steal the 2020 presidential election and its’ direct correspondence to the attempt to overthrow American democracy. In the last eight hearings, the Select Committee reconstructed the happenings inside the White House after former Vice President Joe Biden was declared the incumbent POTUS on November 7, 2020. We learned that then President Donald Trump conspired with a group of players that included Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell, Roger Stone, retired Army general and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Jeffrey Clark, and John Eastman to overturn the election and thereby cement Trump’s place in the Oval Office. We also learned that Trump, John Eastman, Roger Stone, and Jeffrey Clark concocted a plan to create fake electors to sign off on the plot to replace election results. The Select Committee revealed that forces were gathering and preparing a ‘last stand’ type of rendezvous at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Through testimony given to the Select Committee, the American people were shown footage of various Republicans who were a part of the Trump administration’s inner circle and staff such as former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former aide to Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, former White House press secretary Kaleigh McEnany, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and former Attorney General Bill Barr all testifying that Donald Trump knew beyond a reasonable doubt that he lost the election, and the facts proved that there was no widespread voter fraud, but last Thursday’s hearing revealed that while former president Donald Trump privately knew the truth, in public, he perpetuated the ’big lie’ and plotted to steal the presidency from Biden.

The Select Committee’s ninth and possibly final public hearing before the November primaries disclosed that Trump’s plot to steal the election was months in planning. As far back as the summer of 2020, Trump political advisor, convicted and pardoned Roger Stone, told a documentary filmmaker that Donald Trump would claim victory regardless of whether Trump won or lost. “The key thing to do is to claim victory,” Stone said. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law. No, we won, f*** you." Steve Bannon, former editor in chief at Breitbart, Trump advisor, and newly convicted of contempt of Congress, was seen on video saying “What Trump’s gonna do is just declare victory, right? He’s gonna declare victory. But that doesn’t mean he’s a winner. He’s just gonna say he’s the winner." Both Bannon and Roger Stone advocated violence if the election did not check a win for Trump with Stone admitting “f*** the voting, let’s get right to the violence. We’ll have to start smashing pumpkins, if you know what I mean." Yeah. We know what you meant. And so did The Proud Boys and every other White supremist group that showed up on Capitol Hill on January 6th just like the Secret Service warned. Yes. The Secret Service received intelligence from the FBI that there would be a mass disturbance at the Capitol which explains why the Secret Service detail refused to take Trump to the Capitol Building after his speech that fateful day. There were reports that snipers were in the area and there is video of men in the trees near the Capitol. The evidence proving Trump knew about the impending riot or ‘steal’ was even more damning when the Secret Service reported that rally participants would have to go through the magnetometers before entering the Ellipse. Trump reportedly said, “Let my people through” according to the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson. Considering all this information, over the course of nine public hearings, the Select Committee voted to subpoena Donald J. Trump.

This vote was anti-climatic for two primary reasons. The first reason is that we all know that Donald Trump is not going to testify before Congress. Trump has demonstrated his disdain for Congress repeatedly. Trump has a thriving disrespect for Congress as a ruling governmental entity. Well at least the Democrat faction of Congress led by House Majority leader Nancy Pelosi. Case and point the whole Ukraine fiasco where Trump threatened that he would withhold military support if President Zelensky did not open an investigation into Hunter Biden in 2019. A whistleblower’s tip gave Trump his first impeachment by way of Congress. The Capitol Hill insurrection led Congress to impeach Trump a second time. Donald Trump has called the Select Committee hearings a “total bust.” The truth of the matter is there are one or more factors that are now in play that could stall or prevent Trump from speaking to the congressional committee. The midterm primaries are weeks away and a shift in power in the House tilting towards the Republicans is a possibility. Another reality is that Trump could take the subpoena to court on the grounds of executive privilege. Its not like Trump is unfamiliar with the whole “I’ll see you in court” tap dance routine. So, while all this subpoena stuff sounds good, it means absolutely nothing to a person that thumbs his nose at justice, and the American people who have watched him do so for years.