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Saturday, September 03, 2022

Gingrich - It appears he had White House contact which is of interest to the Congressional Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 events.

 Strib carries this AP item detailing the Committee's request by letter that Gingrich cooperate. As is the vexing media habit instead of posting the letter, they describe it.

In part:

The committee's chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, wrote in a letter sent to Gingrich on Thursday that the panel has obtained emails Gingrich exchanged with Trump's associates about television advertisements that "repeated and relied upon false claims about fraud in the 2020 election" and were designed to cast doubt on the voting after it had already taken place.

Thompson wrote that Gingrich also appeared to be involved in Trump's scheme to appoint fake electors and emailed Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, about those efforts on the evening of Jan. 6, after Trump supporters had attacked the Capitol.

"Information obtained by the Select Committee suggests that you provided detailed directives about the television advertisements that perpetuated false claims about fraud in the 2020 election, that you sought ways to expand the reach of this messaging, and that you were likely in direct conversations with President Trump about these efforts," Thompson wrote to Gingrich.

The request for Gingrich to cooperate voluntarily comes as the committee has been quietly continuing its investigation and preparing for a new set of hearings next month. Lawmakers and staff have been interviewing witnesses and compiling a final report in recent weeks after a series of hearings in June and July shed new light on Trump's actions before and after the deadly rioting -- and his lack of a response as the violence was underway at the Capitol.

[...]

On the evening of Jan. 6, Gingrich wrote Meadows at 10:42 p.m., after the Capitol had been cleared and after Congress had resumed certifying Biden's win. He asked about letters from state legislators concerning "decertifying electors," the committee says.

"Surprisingly, the attack on Congress and the activities prescribed by the Constitution did not even pause your relentless pursuit," Thompson wrote.

Gingrich, from the reporting, was more than eager to help fanning the flames of division and distrust of the official reporting and acceptance of election results.

Gingrich has never seemed above the fray, but happy to be in it, whatever it is, from time to time. Gingrich has earned scrutiny for who he is, as well as for what he has done. 

If facts show Gingrich crossed the line between hyper-enthusiastic partisanship, which he has always shown, into aiding and abetting an insurrection, he should get what that crossing of the line deserves. In full measure. He earned what he gets, with the DOJ active in pursuit of the full Jan 6 story in parallel with the Congressional committee; DOJ having the duty of prosecuting crime when it finds it.