Former federal judge J. Michael Luttig* testified at the January 6 hearing today, and it's clear he knew the ramifications of the day of the insurrection. The hearing was riveting, giving us a glimpse into how fragile our democracy is. It also showed how close the mob got to former vice-president Mike Pence. And let's just say that John Eastman is in big trouble. Luttig, a former conservative judge, is not, though.
Luttig said Trump and his supporters are a "clear and present danger to American democracy," He said it's not just because of January 6.
"I have written that, as you said, Chairman Thompson, that today, almost two years after that fateful day in January 2021, that still Donald Trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present danger to American democracy," Luttig said. "That's not because of what happened on January 6. It's because to this very day, the former president, his allies, and supporters pledge that in the presidential election of 2024 if the former president or his anointed successor as the Republican Party presidential candidate were to lose that election, that they would attempt to overturn that 2024 election in the same way that they attempted to overturn the 2020 election but succeed in 2024 where they failed in 2020. I don't speak those words lightly."
And that's precisely why the committee has been holding hearings about January 6 -- so that it never happens again. Now we know why Trump and his allies have been trying to distract the public from the hearings. I knew the committee would reveal new information, but this was very detailed. And it's all going in the history books one day. History will not be kind to Donald.
*John Eastman was a clerk for Judge Luttig
