Today at the Show Trial
29th June 2022
Steven Hayward at Power Line.
I tuned in for quite a bit of today’s January 6 committee hearing with “surprise” witness Cassidy Hutchinson, and it was gripping viewing indeed. Many of the things she related in her videotaped deposition (excerpted liberally in her committee room appearance) sounded plausible, such as alleged statements by Trump on January 6. And Hutchinson seemed a credible witness.
But second thoughts ought to grow in the aftermath of her appearance. Most of her direct testimony was about her interactions with chief of staff Mark Meadows for whom she served as an assistant (save this thought). And I did note that in her videotaped deposition she kept referring to a notebook in front of her, suggesting that her answers were prepared ahead of time. I don’t think that’s how depositions are supposed to go, even for congressional committees.
The whole point of a show trial is to present the Party Line as if it were the unvarnished truth. That she had ‘prepared answers’ doesn’t surprise me a bit.