The January 6 Committee's ninth hearing unfolded this afternoon (October 13). I watched it on Richmond's PBS station.
It is expected this will be the committee's last Hearing before election day, November 8. Most of today's presentation seemed to have been aimed at an audience that didn't see all of the previous hearings in June and July.
In other words, today's hearing was mostly a highlights recap of the eight previous episodes, with some new details sprinkled in here and there. (Previous hearings were presented on June 9, June 13, June 16, June 21, June 23, June 28, July 12 and July 21.)
This time, no live witnesses took the stand, to make breaking news soundbites. Which meant each member of the committee took their turn at presenting a piece -- with bits of evidence, old and new -- devoted to a particular angle. For the most part the presentations were all about Donald Trump's culpability; his fingerprints having been found all over an insurrection plot, planned for months and designed to overturn the 2020 election.
Then came the subpoena for Trump. Boom!
"He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6. So we want to hear from him," said the panel's Democratic chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson.
Yes, to close today's show, the committee announced it will issue a subpoena to Trump, calling for his testimony. Still, no subpoena for Mike Pence and I have to wonder why.
Showbiz-wise, overall, this episode was perhaps the least dramatic and compelling of the nine. Of course, that may be chiefly because I've watched all of the previous hearings. So maybe a novice viewer would see it differently and think today's summing up of the committee's case, as displayed, was strong medicine.
Moreover, if someone wants to watch just one of the nine hearings on YouTube, today's damning evidence was the probably the most succinct version of such. What today's broadcast will be remembered for was its big finish.
As for what Trump will do with the subpoena ... ha! Who knows? But I have to expect he will respond in some way to the committee's parting shot pretty soon. Trump rarely ignores a provocation.
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