KEVIN FOLEY: Jan. 6 in a nutshell

Thanks to the Jan. 6 House select committee, acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue testified under oath that he received a telephone call on Dec. 27, 2020 from the ex-president. He told Donoghue to “just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”

This and much more testimony and evidence compiled by the committee describes how the ex-president orchestrated the near destruction of our most hallowed American values, free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power.

The committee has proven the former guy invited his MAGA cult to Washington promising “it will be wild.” Shortly after speaking with the ex-president on the morning of Jan. 5, his henchman Steve Bannon told radio listeners, “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”

When his staff explained many on the National Mall Jan. 6 were armed and couldn’t come to the Ellipse to hear him because they would have to pass through magnetometers, the ex-president demanded the “mags” be taken away.

“They’re not here to hurt me,” he reportedly said, implying others were fair game.

He then dispatched his mob to the Capitol commanding them to “fight like hell” to stop an official proceeding, the ceremonial counting of Electoral College votes. The message was received and, as ordered, the MAGA mob nearly accomplished their dear leader’s mission.

As police officers were being beaten and pepper sprayed, and lawmakers were being physically threatened, the former guy – the top law enforcement official in America – did nothing for more than three hours.

None of this is in dispute, the video and audio evidence along with the damning sworn testimony of numerous White House officials – all Republicans – is overwhelming.

The radical right claims the select committee is a partisan show trial with no due process or cross examinations. But these hearings are not a legal proceeding, and they know it. Much like the congressional Watergate hearings, the committee is presenting evidence it has uncovered to the American public.

The conservative Wall Street Journal, owned by the former guy’s pal Rupert Murdoch, presented a scathing editorial last week: “… Trump…sat watching TV, posting inflammatory tweets, and refusing to send help.”

The Murdoch-owned New York Post went further: “Trump has proven himself unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.”

Why this is the exact opposite of what Murdoch-owned Fox News viewers are hearing from Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Tucker Carlson I can’t say.

We do know the ex-president speaks in Mafia code, walking up to the line of criminality but leaving a sliver of daylight so he can claim plausible deniability while encouraging his minions to do his dirty work.

That was Jan. 6 in a nutshell.

“I have not heard (in earlier hearings) the direct link that could make the case for seditious conspiracy,” former U.S. Attorney and University of Michigan law professor Barbara McQuade told an interviewer. “But what we heard (last) Thursday is really important to advancing that crime”

McQuade called on the Justice Department to drill down into the evidence the select committee has obtained so far and look for the smoking gun and that appears to be happening.

This week, the former chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, Marc Short, testified before a federal grand jury investigating Jan. 6. In an interview, Short said if the MAGA mob had gotten to his boss there would have been a “massacre.”

Meantime, the ex-president’s most pressing legal problem is here, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has empaneled a special grand jury to review the evidence her team has collected alleging a broad conspiracy to overthrow the state’s election that includes the former guy’s lickspittles, Rudy Giuliani, and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC).

She may be holding the smoking gun, too.

After Georgia’s 2020 votes were tabulated and certified Joe Biden as the winner, a recording of the former guy reveals he demanded Republican state election officials “find” enough votes for him to win Georgia’s electors.

What did he mean by find? Was he telling those officials in Mafia-speak to break the law?

As for Georgia electors, Willis is also investigating those Republicans who tried to usurp the state’s 16 certified electors, a scheme hatched by one of the ex-president’s lawyers.

Among the 16 fake electors targeted by Willis is Republican Party Chairman David Shafer who reportedly told the Jan. 6 select committee the ploy came from the former guy’s campaign. Eleven of the fake electors have wisely agreed to testify under oath before the special grand jury.

Another fake elector, state Sen. Burt Jones, who’s running for lieutenant governor, was ruled out of bounds by a Fulton County judge because of a political conflict of interest on the part of Willis.

I’m not sure it matters with so many other Republicans in Georgia and Washington ready to come clean.