THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2022

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Andy McCarthy

Andy McCarthy spelled out just how serious the Jan. 6 House Select Committee's charges against Donald Trump really are while on Fox News Tuesday.

In a segment with Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley and anchors John Roberts and Anita Vogel, McCarthy concluded that the committee presented evidence that Trump is unfit to serve as president and “may be guilty of a crime.”

Roberts began the conversation by asking Turley how the proceedings would be different if more Republicans were sitting on the committee.

“Well, I think that they were absolutely right about how having the opposing side, not on the riot itself or the elections, but just having questioning from the other side of the aisle would have added greater credibility and I don’t think it would have undermined this powerful testimony,” Turley responded.

“These are respected Republicans like the speaker of the Arizona House. And some of this was extraordinarily compelling, you know."

McCarthy later reasoned that the most plausible crime Trump could be charged with is obstruction of Congress, adding that the committee's evidence "pretty clearly shows his unfitness."

"It even suggests that he may be guilty of a crime, maybe, maybe not, there are arguments on both sides, but I would highlight here is the plausible gap, a scheme that attacked every tier of government versus how likely it was to succeed," he continued.

"I think what the committee is showing our presidential elections are so diffuse, the authority is so extensively spread out between the federal and state governments that there was no way that he could have pulled this off ever."

Not only did McCarthy make a damning prediction about the former president's legal exposure, but he also shared the remark on a network whose viewers -- some key personalities -- continue to downplay the Capitol riot that ensued from Trump's baseless election fraud claims.

Just hours after McCarthy made the comment, for example, Tucker Carlson hailed the actions of Capitol rioters Richard Barnett and Jake Angeli, better known as the QAnon Shaman, as "hilarious."

MEDIA LOSER:
Chris Christie

ABC News contributor and former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) tried and failed to push a false equivalency between the 2000 and 2020 elections while commenting on the Jan. 6 committee hearing. 

Christie joined ABC News' David Muir after Tuesday's hearing, arguing that election denialism does not occur in a vacuum.  

Muir first pointed to Republicans across the country running campaigns based on former President Donald Trump's baseless election fraud claims. 

“This goes all the way back to 2000 with George W. Bush when you had supporters of Al Gore who, even after Vice President Gore conceded the election certified it himself as the president of the Senate, refused to accept George W. Bush as legitimate,” he said. “You’ve had Hillary Clinton say that she still doesn’t accept the 2016 election results as legitimate. This is a very dangerous thing in our country which was brought to a new level in 2020 by Donald Trump and his campaign.”

Muir interjected, explaining that he had to “interrupt” Christie because “Al Gore stood before the nation and actually conceded and did something very different from what we’ve witnessed.”

Christie acknowledged that Gore conceded, adding that despite that, there were House members who voted against certifying Bush’s win.

“What I’m saying is this is a disturbing trend and pattern that’s been increasing in intensity from 2000 to 2016 to 2020,” Christie added. 

Muir replied, “I “just don’t want our audience thinking there is a real equivalency here when you have a former president who is sowing seeds of doubt in this particular election.”

Christie attempted to explain himself, yet was cut off again by Muir, who proceeded to introduce ABC News contributor and former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND). 

While Christie pointed to some differences between the 2000 and 2020 elections, he touted the fallacy as conservatives have attempted to dismiss the Jan. 6 hearings as nothing more than a way to hinder Trump ahead of the 2024 election. 

The remark also highlights Christie's tendency to teeter while discussing Trump and the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

The A-Block

'Do not give that to him'

The Jan. 6 House Select Committee revealed a stunning text message exchange between one of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) staffers and an aide to Mike Pence. 

The exchange, presented during Tuesday's hearing, shows a Jan. 6, 2021 conversation between Johnson chief-of-staff Sean Riley and Pence assistant Chris Hodgson. 

In the conversation, Riley tried to offer fake electors for Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, yet Hodgson refused.

Riley specifically told Hodgson that Johnson has an “alternate slate of electors” pledged for Trump for Pence to review ahead of the certification, over which he would be presiding.

"Johnson needs to hand something to VPOTUS please advise," Riley texted Hodgson, to which he replied, "What is it?"

Riley claimed it was an "Alternate slate of electors for MI and WI because archivist didn’t receive them."

"Do not give that to him," Hodgson responded.

Johnson tried to avoid questions about the exchange while leaving the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, but to no avail.

The senator pretended to be on the phone as he walked past reporters outside of the Capitol, yet was busted by Frank Thorp V of NBC News.

"How much did you know about what your chief-of-staff was doing with the alternate slates of the electors?" Thorp asked.

Johnson evaded the question, saying, "I’m on the phone right now."

"No you’re not," Thorp replied. "I can see your phone. I can see your screen."

After getting busted by Thorp, Johnson “got off the phone” and addressed both him and Manu Raju of CNN.

“This a complete non-story,” he said. “I don’t know what you’re even concerned about here.”

Johnson then maintained he wasn’t aware of the correspondence, calling it a “staff to staff exchange.”

“I was basically, you know, unaware of it,” he added, claiming that while the alternate slate of electors had been given to his office, he did not know by whom.

“I had no involvement in an alternate state of electors,” he said.

Johnson later insisted that “there’s no conspiracy here” when being questioned by Raju, adding, “I was not involved in this at all. I don’t know why you’re asking me questions, so why don’t you just leave me alone?"
 

In Other News...

Cops Prevented Husband of Slain Uvalde Teacher From Trying to Save Her: ‘They Took His Gun Away’

Women for Trump Founder and Jan. 6 Rally Organizer Turns on Trump: He is ‘Disconnected from the Base’

‘Turned My Life Upside-Down’: Officials Recall Harrowing Threats They Faced As A Result of Trump’s Effort to Overturn 2020 Election

Marco Rubio Destroyed By Naomi Biden Over Complaint About Gun Bill: ‘A 5th-Grader’ Could Read it in an Hour

Ratings: The Five Dominates Cable News in Total Viewers and Demo

Must See Clip

'Total breakdown of command and control'

Texas State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R) went off on Uvalde Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo during a Tuesday hearing on the Robb Elementary School shooting. 

After quizzing Texas Department of Public Safety director Col. Steven McCraw for several minutes about the failures of the classroom door, Bettencourt steered his outrage to Arrendondo, who was the incident commander during the Uvalde massacre.

"Now I’m going to submit to you, I don’t believe there’s any training in the world that could’ve helped this incident commander, because this last 25 minutes, from 12:21 to 12:46, is a disgraceful diatribe of somebody that cannot possibly have responded to this to this crisis," he said. "The reasoning, there is no reasoning. The, the torrent of illogical statements here, and it is preposterous."

Bettencourt proceeded to note that at least six shots were fired during that time, adding, "And that means three children probably died. A teacher bled out. An hour plus goes on."

"So is there … any way that officers coming into a situation like that with a clearly dysfunctional and total breakdown of command and control, that somehow can be rectified at a shooting like this?" he asked.

"Or are we just looking at a shooting that tragically and horrifically lasted so long that they, that it’s so abnormal, so out of what the possible realm of responses are, that there's simply no way to replace an incident commander that has literally melted into protoplasm?"

Bettencourt launched into the rant during a Special Texas Senate committee hearing on the massacre at Robb Elementary School that claimed the lives of 19 children and two adults. The hearing produced stunning revelationsemotional moments, and disturbing new details. 

Links We Like

Jong-Fast shares her mother's stories from pre-Roe America
- Molly Jong-Fast, The Atlantic - Bill Luaders, The Bulwark
Kate Bush gives first interview in six years as Running Up That Hill continues to top charts
- Emma Barnett, BBC 4
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