Morning Joe looked at yesterday's Jan. 6th hearing in depth this morning.
"We begin there with the historic criminal referrals against former president Donald Trump from the January 6th committee," Mika Brzezinski said.
"It is the first time Congress has ever referred a former president for prosecution. And the committee yesterday recommended that the Justice Department prosecute Trump on four charges for his role in the attack on the Capitol. The charges are: obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and inciting or assisting an insurrection."
LIZ CHENEY: Standing on the west front of the Capitol in 1981, President Ronald Reagan described it this way, the orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony that we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle. every president in our history has defended this orderly transfer of authority except one.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN: The dangerous assault on American constitutional democracy that took place on January 6th, 2021, consists of hundreds of individual criminal offenses. most such crimes are already being prosecuted by the Department of Justice. We proposed to the committee advancing referrals where the gravity of the specific offense, the severity of its actual harm and the centrality of the offender to the overall design of the unlawful scheme to overthrow the election compel us to speak. Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass.
"What an absolute powerful moment from yesterday. Foot soldiers go to jail, the ring leaders get a free pass, no. No, and I love how we said it compels us to speak. Nobody was celebrating at the end of that hearing.
"They were compelled by their love of America to speak. Liz Cheney talking about the orderly transfer of authority. Nothing short of a miracle. That's what we were taught in grade school. At least, that's what I was taught," Scarborough said.
