Nation needs answers on Jan. 6 attack

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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A year into its investigation, after conducting more than 1,000 interviews and reviewing 140,000 documents, the Jan. 6 House committee has entered its final stages. Earlier this week, it kicked off what will be a series of televised hearings.

These are not mere show hearings, as critics have vainly attempted to describe them. They are an important and entirely necessary part of the process for several reasons. It is imperative that the panel lay out for the American public a comprehensive, verifiable accounting of how and why an insurgent mob overran the Capitol and nearly stopped the peaceful transfer of presidential power.

In simpler terms, this was an attempted coup. Its goal: to overthrow a lawfully elected government and replace it with a failed autocrat who refused to acknowledge a lost election. The attempt was the first since the nation's founding. It must be the last. That is the purpose of these hearings.

Thursday night's hearing included a gut-wrenching, 12-minute video of the attack not previously made public. Live testimony by U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards recounted the efforts of fellow officers to hold back the mob as they were viciously beaten with whatever weapons the insurgents had on hand. Edwards, who suffered a brain injury in the attack, said, "I was slipping in people's blood."

How disgraceful, then, that in their attempts to denigrate the proceedings, House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee tweeted, "All. Old. News."

But McCarthy has since refused to cooperate with a House subpoena for his testimony about conversations he had with President Donald Trump that day and, absurdly, shortly before the Thursday hearing began, said that "I thought everybody in the country [bore] some responsibility based on what was going on." That he should try to diffuse blame and responsibility is bad enough. But his refusal to participate in a fact-finding investigation, his obstructionism and continued fostering of the Big Lie of the "stolen election" is reprehensible.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., one of only two Republicans courageous enough to serve on the Jan. 6 panel, put it succinctly at Thursday night's hearing when she noted to Republicans who continue to defend the indefensible that "there will come a day when President Trump is gone. But your dishonor will remain."

We now know, thanks to video testimony shown Thursday, that Trump's own U.S. attorney general, Bill Barr, told the panel that at least a month before the attack, "I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen ... which I told the president was bullshit and ... I didn't want to be a part of it. And that's one of the reasons that went into me deciding to leave when I did. ... You can't live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence, that ... there was fraud in the election."

What must be determined now is whether Trump and his acolytes — some of whom, like McCarthy, still wield considerable power — orchestrated the coup attempt. And if so, what actions must we, as a people, take to ensure that this never happens again?

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who chairs the panel, said the initial findings were that Trump led a "sprawling, multistep conspiracy aimed at overturning the presidential election," while Vice Chair Cheney said that Trump oversaw and coordinated — over multiple months — "a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power."

There are many pressing issues Americans face these days. Yet ultimately, none is more important than the continued viability of our democracy.

Don't delude yourself into thinking this was a one-off that could never happen again. Trump continues to be a malevolent and unrepentant force in American politics. Just before Thursday's hearing, the former president — who is still banned from mainstream social media platforms — went on his own platform to insist that the insurrection represented "the greatest movement in the history of our country to Make America Great Again."