Letter: There's more to the congressional hearing on the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot
In a June 11 USA TODAY story ("Tears, tissues, T-shirts: What it was like in the Jan. 6 hearing room"), the Times-Gazette dutifully presented one side of the recent prime-time congressional hearing about the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot.
No doubt it’s the side the House investigating committee, dominated by congressional Democrats, wanted told. That way the public would be reminded of who, the committee seems to believe, helped precipitate the violence — namely, President Donald Trump.
But is there other information the article should have addressed, but didn't? In my opinion, yes.
For instance, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows reportedly said President Trump offered to deploy National Guard troops ahead of the planned rally as a precaution. If that’s true, would the presence of military personnel have prevented or curtailed the violence? Stands to reason it might have.
Similarly, it’s been reported House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will not surrender security-related paperwork between her office and Capitol Hill police and that there are thousands of hours of security video capitol police are not releasing. If true, why is the information being withheld?
In addition, and supposedly contrary to House rules, why were some Republican legislators excluded from the congressional investigating committee? Did Democrat lawmakers want to engineer a certain outcome? Some might say Democrats would never dream of doing something like that. But remember, they fabricated a Trump-Russia collusion lie that put our nation through 3 1/2 years of political hell.
Finally, the article could have included comments from thought leaders critical of the hearing. For example, liberal Democrat lawyer and former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz reportedly called it a “kangaroo court” with a “fixed jury.” Was he right?
It’s essential readers have all sides of an issue so they can evaluate it objectively.
Jeff L. Reed, Ashland
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: News coverage of hearing on Capitol riot did not present all sides
