Select committee

“ Above all, the work of the Select Committee underscores that our democratic institutions are only as strong as the commitment of those who are entrusted with their care.
As the Select Committee concludes its work, their words must be a clarion call to all Americans: to vigilantly guard our Democracy and to give our vote only to those dutiful in their defense of our Constitution.
Let us always honor our oath to, as Abraham Lincoln said, "nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth." So help us God. ”

“ The Select Committee’s investigation demonstrates that President Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud—the Big Lie—served a dual purpose, forming the foundation of his attempts to overturn the 2020 Presidential election and launching a fundraising effort to fund the former President’s other endeavors and to enrich his associates—the Big Rip-off. ”

“ If committees are established, they shall be established at both the national level and, for agencies with field or regional offices, other appropriate levels. The committees shall be composed of representatives of management and an equal number of nonmanagement employees or their representatives. Where there are exclusive bargaining representatives for employees at the national or other level in an agency, such representatives shall select the appropriate nonmanagement members of the committee. ”

“ You may only refuse to answer a question to preserve a privilege recognized by the select committee. If you refuse to answer a question based on privilege, staff may either proceed with the deposition or seek a ruling from the chairman based on the objection. If the chairman overrules such an objection, you are required to answer the question.
I also have to remind you that it is unlawful to deliberately provide false information to Congress. Since your deposition is under oath, we ask that you please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn by the court reporter. ”

“ But preventing another January 6th will require a broader sort of accountability. Ultimately, the American people chart the course for our country's future. The American people decide whom to give the reins of power. If this Select Committee has accomplished one thing, I hope it has shed light on how dangerous it would be to empower anyone whose desire for authority comes before their commitment to American democracy and the Constitution. ”

“ The Select Committee recognizes of course that most of the testimony we have gathered was given more than a year after January 6th. Recollections are not perfect, and the Committee expects that different accounts of the same events will naturally vary. Indeed, the lack of any inconsistencies in witness accounts would itself be suspicious. And many witnesses may simply recall different things than others. ”

“ This is a fight for the future the United States of America. It is a fight for the future of Western Civilization as we know it. It's a fight between dark and light. It's a fight between the godly and the godless. It's a fight between good and evil. And we dare not fail, or we will step out into one thousand years of darkness. ”

“ This is an unclassified transcribed interview of Mr. Glenn Simpson.
Thank you for speaking to us today. For the record, I am , a staff member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Others present today will introduce themselves when they speak.
But before we begin, I have a security reminder. If you haven't left your electronics outside, please do so at this time. That includes blackberries, iPhones, androids, tablets, iPads, or eReaders, laptops, iPods, MP3 players, recording devices, cameras, wireless headsets, pagers, and any type of bluetooth wristbands or watches. ”

“ The person who wins must swear an oath and live up to it. The people who come up short must accept the ultimate results and abide by the will of the voters and the rule of law. This faith in our institutions and laws is what upholds our democracy.
If that faith is broken—if those who seek power accept only the results of elections that they win—then American democracy, only a few centuries old, comes tumbling down. ”

“ Whenever an improper motion is made, instead of simply ruling it out of order, it is well for the chairman to suggest how the desired object can be accomplished. [See "Hints to Inexperienced Chairman" below.]
The by-laws sometimes state that the president shall appoint all committees. In such case the assembly may authorize committees, but cannot appoint or nominate them. The president, however, cannot appoint any committees except those authorized by the by-laws or by a vote of the assembly. Sometimes the by-laws make the president ex-officio a member of every committee. ”

“ Faith in our elections and the rule of law are paramount to our Republic. Election-deniers—those who refuse to accept lawful election results—purposely attack the rule of law and the foundation of our country. ”

“ As a student of history who loves the Constitution and reveres its Framers, I do not believe that the Founders of our country intended to invest the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted during the Joint Session of Congress, and no Vice President in American history has ever asserted such authority. ”

“ Representatives Nunes, Conaway, King, LoBiondo, Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Wenstrup, Stewart of Utah, Crawford, Gowdy, Stefanik, Hurd, Schiff, Himes, Sewell, Carson, Speier, Quigley, Swalwell, Castro, and Heck.
THE CHAIRMAN: A quorum being present, the Select Committee on Intelligence will come to order. As a reminder, even though we are in a closed space, we are in open session, and a transcript of the proceedings will be released in accordance with House rules. ”

“ The failure to sufficiently share and act upon that intelligence jeopardized the lives of the police officers defending the Capitol and everyone in it.
While the danger to the Capitol posed by an armed and angry crowd was foreseeable, the fact that the President of the United States would be the catalyst of their fury and facilitate the attack was unprecedented in American history. If we lacked the imagination to suppose that a President would incite an attack on his own Government, urging his supporters to "fight like hell,” we lack that insight no more. ”

“ Section 241 defines the term, 'political committee,' as including any organization which accepts contributions for the purpose of influencing or attempting to influence the election of presidential and vice presidential electors in two or more states. Every political committee is required to have a chairman and a treasurer before any contribution may be accepted. ”

“ Some one moves the adoption of the By-Laws reported by the committee, and they are treated just like the Constitution. The Chairman then asks: “What is the further pleasure of the meeting?” or states that the next business in order is the election of the permanent officers of the society. In either case some one moves the appointment of a committee to nominate the permanent officers of the society, which motion is treated as already described in § 47. As each officer is elected he replaces the temporary one, and when they are all elected the organization is completed. ”

“ In this way very much of the work of the legislature is done by branches of each House, and by selected men whose time and intellects are devoted to special subjects. It is easy to see that much time and useless debate may be thus saved, and I am disposed to believe that this system of committees has worked efficiently and beneficially. The mode of selection of the members has been so contrived as to give to each political party that amount of preponderance in each committee which such party holds in the House. ”

“ It has been impossible to carry out the programme of the Constitution; and, without careful reform, the national legislature will even more dangerously approach the perilous model of a mass meeting. There are several ways in which Congress can be so integrated as to impart to its proceedings system and party responsibility. That may be done by entrusting the preparation and initiation of legislation to a single committee in each house, composed of the leading men of the majority in that house. ”

“ When the committee is one for deliberation, or investigation, it should be larger and represent all parties, so that the fullest debate may be had in committee, and its opinion and recommendations, as contained in its report, carry as great weight as possible, because if any important faction is not represented the usefulness of the committee may be greatly impaired, and the chance of unpleasant debate in the assembly increased. In either case it is well to have a committee consist of an uneven number, in order to avoid a tie vote. ”

“ In many societies the presiding officer of the assembly is regarded as ex-officio a member of all communities; there is, however, no good authority for this, since only those persons regularly placed on a committee should be regarded as members thereof, neither does it follows that if he is a member of a committee, as, unless it is so ordered by the assembly, the committee cannot be deprived of its right to elect its own chairman. ”

“ In a word, we have no supreme executive ministry, like the great “Ministry of the Crown” over sea, in whose hands is the general management of legislation; and we have, consequently, no great prizes of leadership such as are calculated to stimulate men of strong talents to great and conspicuous public services. The Committee system is, as I have already pointed out, the very opposite of this. It makes all the prizes of leadership small, and nowhere gathers power into a few hands. ”

“ In large assemblies it is better to follow the practice of the House of Representatives, and go into committee of the whole.] While acting informally upon any resolutions, the assembly can only amend and adopt them, and without further motion the Chairman announces that “the assembly acting informally [or as in committee of the whole] has had such a subject under consideration, and has made certain amendments, which he will report.” The subject comes before the assembly then as if reported by a committee. ”

“ A standing committee is either wholly, or partially, elected at each annual meeting in ordinary societies, and immediately thereafter it reorganizes by electing a chairman (unless he has been appointed by the assembly) and a secretary. Therefore, a standing committee must report at the annual meeting, or before, on everything referred to it during the year. The motion to rise is never used in standing committees or boards, nor is it used in other committees except when the committee is ready to report so that it will never meet again. ”

“ A special committee is appointed for a specific purpose, and until the duty assigned it by the society is accomplished it continues to exist, unless sooner discharged, which requires a two-thirds vote if done without notice being given. The fact that an annual meeting has intervened does not discharge a special committee appointed by a society. ”

“ Unless the assembly has appointed a chairman, either directly or through its presiding officer, the first named on a committee, and in his absence the next named member, becomes chairman, and so on and should act as such unless the committee by a majority of its number elects a chairman, which it has the right to do if the assembly has not appointed one, and which a standing committee usually does. ”

“ Millions of Americans believed that Trump was telling the truth on election night—that Trump actually had proof the election was stolen and that the ongoing counting of votes was an act of fraud.
As votes were being counted in the days after the election, President Trump's senior campaign advisors informed him that his chances of success were almost zero. ”

“ A quorum, that is the number that must be present in order to transact business, is a majority of the committee. A committee has no right to discipline any of its members: if any member obstructs business, its only recourse is to report the facts to the assembly for its action. If a committee finds that its investigations will involve expense that has not been authorized, it must obtain from the assembly such authority before incurring the expense. ”

“ I observed, I think it was on December 1st, that—you know, I believe you can't live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence, that the election—that there was fraud in the election. ”

“ Now, therefore, sir, I hope that, laying aside all these matters, which are entirely foreign, we shall act upon this resolution simply as a matter of business. No one has a right to complain of it that we raise a committee for certain purposes of our own when we judge it to be necessary. It is an imputation upon nobody; it is an insult to nobody; it is not any thing which any sensible man could ever find fault with, or be disposed to do so. ”

“ From this moment she exists chiefly as a Member or President of innumerable Committees. No sooner does the shadow of a political idea flit through her brain, than she forms a Committee to promote its development. ”

“ It is this multiplicity of leaders, this many-headed leadership, which makes the organization of the House too complex to afford uninformed people and unskilled observers any easy clue to its methods of rule. For the chairmen of the Standing Committees do not constitute a cooperative body like a ministry. They do not consult and concur in the adoption of homogeneous and mutually helpful measures; there is no thought of acting in concert. Each Committee goes its own way at its own pace. ”