The Select Committee has been the biggest danger Trump has faced in his life from its inception. But its continued resourcefulness and, incredible competency, have Trump on the run. Now that the committee has shown that it will press charges for those that don’t show up, people are showing up.
Once a person “shows up” to testify, one either has to tell the truth or take the 5th. Lying is the single most dangerous thing a witness could do in this situation because no witness has any idea what any other witness really testified to.
A very powerful witness showed up today to answer questions. No, the witness didn’t have a lot of power in the administration. In fact, she held almost none. But she was a powerful witness because she was in charge of messaging, and if Trump was trafficking in lies the entire time, Kayleigh could be one of the most powerful witnesses.
Picture this in your head: “Mr. President, the release from Michigan says…”
Trump: “Just say LIE A, LIE B, LIE C”
It isn’t tough to envision. And it is not just what Kayleigh “said” or “heard” that could be so dangerous to Trump. Remember all those notebooks? From CNN [1]:
According to a disclosure from the National Archives made in court in October, the committee is seeking “629 pages from multiple binders containing proposed talking points for the Press Secretary, interspersed with a relatively small number of related statements and documents, principally relating to allegations of voter fraud, election security, and other topics concerning the 2020 election.”
Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chairs the committee, said in a statement at the time of the release of McEnany’s subpoena, along with other former White House officials, “We need to know precisely what role the former President and his aides played in efforts to stop the counting of the electoral votes and if they were in touch with anyone outside the White House attempting to overturn the outcome of the election.“
And here Kayleigh could be in a bit of trouble. Kayleigh had either already signed her contract with Fox or was just about to sign her contract with Fox (the agreement had surely been made) and if she was coordinating messages with Fox about possible “fraud,” then Kayleigh could be looking at serious criminal liability.
When one faces serious criminal liability, it often helps to be able to say something like, “Is there some kind of deal where I could tell you something really important and nothing happens to me?”
That’s why Trump might have had a very bad day. We can near guarantee that the committee knew a great deal about who Kayleigh spoke to about what and why before she even opened the door.
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Jason Miciak & Nicole Hickman