Topic: WorldNetDaily
We've shown how WorldNetDaily and its columnists lashed out at the House committee investigating the Capitol riot when its hearings began. When former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Donald Trump reportedly lunged at the driver of his limousine to keep him from being taken back to the White House instead of the Capitol, WND was ready to try and discredit her. Bob Unruh wrote in a June 29 article:
Agents of the U.S. Secret Service, bound by oath to support the Constitution and protect the president, are willing to testify that one of the star witnesses put on the national stage by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's partisan committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, wasn't telling the truth when she was under oath.
Fox News reports that two Secret Service agents "are prepared to testify before Congress that then-President Donald Trump did not lunge at a steering wheel or assault them in an attempt to go to the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot."
Fox News' source directly contradicted the claims made by Cassidy Hutchinson, who formerly worked for then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
That story hasn't aged well. As we've noted, not only has no Secret Service agent offered their testimony, the ones who said they would -- since identnfied as Trump yes-men -- testify are now refusing to testify and have lawyered up.
Unruh complained later that day, repeating those now-dubious attacks on Hutchinson and adding an attack on the entire committee:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's partisan Jan. 6 committee assigned to "investigate" the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol put on a hastily assembled and urgent show this week, revealing a witness who purported that President Trump literally tried to commandeer the presidential limousine on that day to go to the Capitol.
The truthfulness of that testimony already has been challenged by no less than the Secret Service officers involved, and is doubted because the witness was relaying only hearsay – she hadn't actually been a witness to anything.
But real purpose of the hearing now has been revealed, the Washington Examiner's Byron York wrote.
He pointed out that the testimony of Pelosi's latest witness "was not subject to the kind of basic scrutiny that witnesses receive in a normal congressional investigation."
Then the columnists -- in truth, not terribly disinguishable from WND's "news" content -- weighed in. Laura Hollis went on the attack in a June 30 column:
Everything about the congressional Jan. 6 Committee is political theater. The committee itself, per Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's insistence, could not include any members not already predisposed to find Donald Trump guilty of something. The accusations are outlandish and unsubstantiated. Witnesses' testimony and other "evidence" often lacks foundation or credibility. Most of the committee's performance (I won't call it "work"), substantively and procedurally, would never fly in a court of law.
There are plenty of reasons why these "hearings" are taking place, but finding the truth isn't one of them.
[...]
What really happened on Jan. 6, 2021, has not been revealed, and nothing happening in the Jan. 6 Committee hearings will reveal it. Everything they are doing is designed to obfuscate the truth, deceive the American public, entrench the power of the traditional political elite and make an example out of anyone who dares to challenge the official narrative.
Eviscerating Trump is just a sideshow.
Michael Master attacked Hutchinson in his June 30 column:
All of her testimony was personal opinion about the incident and hearsay about conversations from other members of Meadow's staff. Hearsay. No firsthand knowledge, witnessing, or participation. None.
What judge would have allowed such a testimony in a criminal trial? None. This incident represents more violation of due process by this Jan. 6 committee – and more failure.
Did Trump grab the steering wheel of the car and lunge at one of his Secret Service agents? Who cares? So what if he did? Did Trump want to go to the Capitol? Who cares? So what if he did? He stated in his presentation to those 200,000 people who attended his protest rally near the White House that he wanted to march with them "to" the Capitol building "peacefully" so "their voices could be heard."
In addition, the driver of the car, the Secret Service agent, and those people whom Hutchinson supposedly overheard say that none of the incidents Hutchinson claimed actually happened. None of them. None. And they have previously testified to the committee.
So why didn't this committee include those opposing testimonies at their hearing? Because it is just out to get Trump and is ignoring the due process Trump would have if this were an actual criminal court case. No judge would have allowed such hearsay or personal opinions at a criminal court case. No judge would have ignored the opposing testimonies.
The Hutchinson testimony was bogus – and members of the January 6 committee know it. The media know it. Yet, they all continue with it just like Democrats and media continue to claim that Trump colluded with Russians to affect the 2016 election, even after Robert Mueller stated no collusion occurred, and just like they've continued to claim that Jan. 6 was an "insurrection," even after two courts and the FBI stated that it was not, and just like Democrats and media continue to claim that there was no election fraud in 2020.
Like Unruh's "news" articles, Master's column did not age well with the agents' refusal to actually testify.
