Intelligence analyst and strategist, Eric Garland (not Merrick, definitely Eric) is a master at translating Hill hearings into plain-speak. He has a unique ability to read between the lines then condense a speech to its essence. The resulting plain-speak is raw truth – and very very funny.
This time Eric Garland is translating the House Oversight Committee hearing: The Capitol Insurrection: Unexplained Delays and Unanswered Questions. Because the hearing is very lengthy, I’ve divided this tweet thread translation into 3 parts.
Eric begins his thread with a link to the YouTube recording of the full hearing.
DIRFBI Christopher Wray, Mike Flynn's brother questioned live about a the January 6 attempted coup.
LIVE: https://t.co/ZOOeY90EI0
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
In the Chair is Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) who begins the hearing with her opening statement.
MALONEY: Trump worked on the DOJ and the Judiciary to overturn the election. Then, he sent a violent Mob to the Congress.
IT WAS A COUP. ??
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
More importantly for legal purposes, it was an insurrection. (I know this because I looked up the legal definition of insurrection.) So did Chairwoman Maloney.
MALONEY: We will not be calling this shit a tourist visit, but an insurrection. McConnell and McCarthy already copped to this.
We're gonna get to the bottom of this Mark Meadows stuff, and Bill Barr's old deputy Jeffrey Rosen. It's ugly.
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
Next up is Jim Comer (R-KY) who wants to talk about anything but the subject matter of the hearing. This non-answering tactic is usually called “pivoting”. When Comer does it it’s called “last resort” because he’s got nothin’ else.
COMER: Let's get back to NORMAL! Like where I don't go to prison for accessory after the fact for seditious conspiracy! Jobs! Fauci! Opioids! Bankruptcy! Normal! Normal! Normal.
Gosh, people want to learn about this thing, and we don't need to know any more. NO TREASON AT ALL! pic.twitter.com/jAlOHMuBqV
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
Comer also seems to think that the more he talks, the more someone will believe him. He’s deluded.
COMER: Democrats want to bring *politics* into this Legislative body where we make laws after being elected through elections. POLITICS! And for what? Just because they wanted to murder all of us?
Investigating a conspiracy to murder politicians is just POLITICS! pic.twitter.com/gp1G4TvMSJ
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
DIRFBI WRAY: Trying to murder Congress is bad – very bad – we've already got 500 people arrested for it, and we're just getting warmed up.
We've made domestic terror one of the top priorities for the FBI. pic.twitter.com/A58sLmcru0
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
WRAY: I get briefed every time a police officer is killed in the line of duty and I personally call their chief of police in every case, over 200 times. We owe respect and gratitude to the Capitol Police, DC Metro PD, and many others.
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
Next up: Lt Gen Walter Piatt, Director of the Army Staff, Pentagon.
PIATT: We didn't ratfuck everyone by holding the National Guard and other forces back – we had to overcome the obstacles we ourselves put in place to block the National Guard. And that's totally different, I'm super cereal!
We didn't ratfuck anyone! We ratmadelove to democracy!
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
Next! Oh look, it’s Charles Flynn. Looks like Chuck may have a lot in common with his brother Moscow Mike.
FLYNN: It's called the National Guard, not the City Protection Thing, so you see how confusing this was. Did they want us to Protect a Thing? Form a barbershop quartet? Play rugby? Stop people from murdering Congress?
We had no idea. pic.twitter.com/nACH4Lr0u0
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
FLYNN: January 6 must never be allowed to happen again. Maybe we can do it on Kim Jong-Un's birthday next time.
MALONEY: OK. You guys ready? This ain't gonna be gentle. Buckle up.
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 15, 2021
The tweet thread continues in
Gobsmacking Revelations at House Oversight Hearing – Part 2 The Questioning Begins
Comer should have been ruled out of order, because it’s not a hearing on any of that. The chair should be in charge of this, not letting them run on.
Perhaps Maloney decided that Comer being completely out of his depth and making himself look ridiculous was a self-own punishment. He certainly wasn’t doing the Republicans any favours.