"The torch now passes to other actors who hold the power to achieve accountability."
 | By John Guida Senior Staff Editor, Opinion |
The House Jan. 6 committee held its ninth and likely final hearing before the election, and questions now turn to what comes next and if the process has been effective. |
In a guest essay last week, Christopher Caldwell, a Times contributing writer, suggested that the committee was "assiduous in its research, artful in its cinematography and almost wholly ineffective in shifting views about the storming of the U.S. Capitol in 2021 by a pro-Trump crowd." |
Norman Eisen (special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment of Donald Trump), Danielle Brian (the executive director of the Project on Government Oversight) and Danya Perry (a former federal prosecutor) write in an essay that it's too soon to make conclusions — they argue that the work is not done, and "the torch now passes to other actors who hold the power to achieve accountability for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — and to prevent another one from happening." |
In a brief conversation, I asked Eisen about what to look for as we assess the impact of the hearings and how the efforts of the committee might be taken up and moved forward by others. |
John Guida: There's a lot of debate about the effectiveness of the Jan. 6 hearings. What do you think of them? |
Norm Eisen: From the start of the hearings, I've been thinking about this. The committee has made a powerful presentation, and although there's legitimate debate about whether that's reflected in the polling, I tend to agree with those who point to the data showing an impact. Sometimes, these impacts are subtle, for example, with the NBC News poll that shows that democracy has risen to the top of the list of issues that Americans care about during the hearings. I credit the committee for that, because these hearings have not been narrowly focused on the particularized events of Jan. 6. They've been about the ways in which the election-denier movement resulted in the violence of that day but also represents a continuing threat. |
But I also think we have to judge the success or failure of the committee, however unfair it may be, by whether democracy triumphs in the midterm elections. |
JG: You were part of a team that prepared the report for the first impeachment of Trump in 2020. What suggestions do you have for the Jan. 6 committee as they draft their own report? |
NE: I suggest that they stock up on their caffeine products, because producing one of these reports is grueling. We worked around the clock for weeks to produce our 633-page report (including appendices), and this one will be even more extensive. The Jan. 6 committee should think about modeling their report on the concrete outcomes that they can trigger. What are the legislative or accountability objectives that are achievable here? For the second goal, for authorities who can extend the work of the committee, they need to model the report on the Watergate road map. When I was writing our impeachment report, I actually ordered up all of the Nixon impeachment files from the National Archives and had them all outside my office for our use. So I was able to look at the original Watergate road map as a lodestar as we were developing our own report. |
JG: In the guest essay, you and your co-authors discuss Section 3 of the 14th Amendment as a potential avenue for trying to disqualify Donald Trump for future public office. How do you see that playing out in the coming months? |
NE: The 14th Amendment, Section 3 landscape has now been transformed by the evidence that the committee has put out. I believe there will be initiatives to block Trump as an insurrectionist or one who gave aid and comfort to them. Those will probably head to the courts and ultimately the Supreme Court. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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