Seth Abramson

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

RT @SethAbramson: 1/ At times I may make reference in this thread to evidence previously published in the nearly 200 reports on January 6 t… — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

RT @SethAbramson: (🧵) LIVE THREAD: I’m live-tweeting today’s (Thursday’s) 1PM ET House January 6 Committee hearing. I’m a lawyer, journalis… — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

101/ The Committee takes a 10-minute recess on one final stunning point: after this false statement came out from Trump, Short frantically called the Secret Service to say that he believed Vice President Pence was in physical danger from the words and conduct of... Donald Trump. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

100/ Miller confirms Trump dictated the lie to him. This is the seventh *big breaking news*: Trump dictated a statement to Miller, intended for public consumption, which lied about what Pence planned to do on January 6 *so Trump could incite the mob* on January 6 (the next day). — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

99/ Short (via depo) is now testifying to a false statement put out by Trump and Jason Miller after the January 5 meeting saying Trump and Pence were in agreement. Again this was Trump lying to incite a mob—it’s as simple as that. Trump lied so he could incite the January 6 mob. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

98/ That January 5 Oval Office meeting was like The Temptation of Mike Pence. We *should* all be happy that Pence passed his Biblical "Trial." — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

97/ We should really understand that in this last, Insurrection Eve conversation with Pence, Trump was (in American historical terms) embodying Pure Evil. Chaos. Anarchy. Then autocracy. And tyranny. The end of America. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

96/ This meeting is stunning. Trump, literally like Satan slithering down from his tree in the Bible, tries to entice Pence by emphasizing to him how much *power* he’d have—and how *cool* it would be—ruling the galaxy alongside his father Darth Vader by picking the next POTUS. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

95/ Jacob is now detailing a January 5, 2021 meeting between the President of the United States and the Vice President of the United States at the White House. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

94/ Jacob is detailing a legal debate with Eastman that will lose most viewers. But I think the key point about this debate has been made already (in the hearing and in my tweets above). — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

93/ This hearing is a very odd one: we are actually getting *major* breaking news but it is being oddly (I think only accidentally) soft-shoed. Journalists conducting an analysis of this hearing after the fact *mustn’t* make this mistake. We’re getting *major* breaking news here. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

92/ The sixth *big breaking news*: Jacob told Eastman a *second* time, on January 5, that there’d be violence "in the streets" if Eastman/Trump proceeded as planned. But the next day—despite being told their words would lead to violence!—Trump and Eastman went forward as planned. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

91/ The fifth *big breaking news*: Eastman said to Jacob that he *knew* what the Supreme Court would do if Pence blocked Biden’s electors: invoke the "political question" doctrine to leave the matter to Congress. *Who told Eastman what the Supreme Court would do*? Ginni Thomas? — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

90/ The HPJC must remember what it knew in its first hearings: this is all about Trump; it’s always about Trump. It’s not, finally, about Pence, or even—in a sense—about Eastman as anything beyond a criminal instrument/weapon wielded by Trump. The focus should never be off Trump. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

89/ See my point, now, from earlier in this thread? This narrative isn’t really about Pence at all. It’s about a Trump/Eastman criminal conspiracy to commit election fraud *and* incite violence. *That’s* the actual story here—not anything about Pence’s heroism or steadfastness. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

88/ Jacob is taking us through *another* White House meeting (now on January 5) in which Eastman tries to persuade Pence. Again this is much less interesting—Eastman kept hitting the same notes over and over—than the fact that Eastman *knew* he was recommending violating the law. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

87/ So the Committee keeps focusing on how Trump "pressured" Pence, when really his lies were *not* intended to "pressure" Pence—*as he already knew Pence had rejected that pressure*—but to *incite* a riot. The House January 6 Committee *must* emphasize this and do so right now. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

86/ Trump lied about his deranged legal fantasies being an open question; Eastman lied re: his deranged legal fantasies being an open question; and they did it because *the January 6 mob wouldn’t have rioted for Trump at the Capitol* if they knew there was *no chance* of winning. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

85/ I like that HJ6C is getting witnesses to say Pence *never wavered* in his views. But remember, it matters *not* because it makes Pence a hero, *not* because it underscores the *good* advice he was getting, but because Trump/Eastman *lied to the public* on this to *incite* it. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

84/ Greg Jacob is now walking through John Eastman’s last-ditch pitch to Pence, in Trump’s presence, on January 4. Eastman gave Pence two equally illegal and absurd options I will not detail here because they were deranged fantasies Eastman knew had no basis in law or in fact. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

RT @SethAbramson: 2/ This live thread is of course free. If, as you follow along between now and 3:30PM today, you feel moved to use the ti… — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

RT @SethAbramson: 1/ At times I may make reference in this thread to evidence previously published in the nearly 200 reports on January 6 t… — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

RT @SethAbramson: (🧵) LIVE THREAD: I’m live-tweeting today’s (Thursday’s) 1PM ET House January 6 Committee hearing. I’m a lawyer, journalis… — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

83/ This is all unfolding as predicted early in this thread: the important thing here isn’t the good advice Pence got—as he knew from the start what the right thing was to do—but the *lies* told by Eastman and Trump and Miller and Bannon *to the mob* to incite them on January 6. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

82/ ...and Jason Miller pretended, and Bannon pretended, that Pence’s decision was an open question long after Pence had made crystal clear to Trump that he wouldn’t do as asked. The Committee should *emphasize* that these Trump (and others’) lies were intended to *incite a mob*. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

81/ Now we get a video on how much pressure Pence was put under to do the wrong thing, including audio from a Trump speech. Short confirms (via depo), yet again, that "many times" and "consistent[ly]" Pence told Trump he could not and would not do as asked. Eastman pretended... — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

80/ Former VP Dan Quayle and former Speaker Paul Ryan also told Pence he couldn’t do as Trump asked. But to be candid, far less interesting than the fact that *everyone* told Pence the obvious—he couldn’t do as asked—is Eastman *knew* his analysis was *fraudulent*. *That* is key. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

79/ Now a brief video of ex-VP Al Gore speaking on the day of Biden’s inauguration, noting that (for him, Gore) it was an "easy choice" to choose the country over his own political career back in 2000. It is so important to underscore how un-American Trump’s alternative view was. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

78/ Aguilar cuts off Luttig at the moment Luttig actually utters something useful, i.e. Luttig calling Eastman’s actions "constitutional mischief." Good move by Aguilar! He is doing his very best with a problematic witness. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

77/ By using the phrase "historical precedent" over and over and over again, Luttig is inadvertently lending credence to an absolute fantasy that Eastman *knew* was a fantasy. Why are we still indulging Eastman’s fantasy when we already have heard that *he* knew it was a fantasy? — PolitiTweet.org