There were two moments that stood out most to The New Abnormal political podcast host Andy Levy while watching the last Jan. 6 committee hearing on Dec. 19, which made four scathing criminal referrals against former President Donald Trump for his alleged involvement in the Capitol insurrection.
One of those moments was the harrowing testimony of Georgia election worker Shaye Moss.
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“Moss was a Georgia election worker, as was her mom Ruby Freeman, and Rudy Giuliani accused them of shenanigans. And the thing that really stuck out was he accused Freeman of passing a suspicious USB stick to Shaye. And we got to see Shaye’s testimony again, where she told them that it was not a USB stick, it was, in fact, a ginger mint,” Andy says on this TNA episode recapping the hearing. “It’s just the callous life-ruining. Because both Ruby and Shaye feared for their safety, got threats and stuff like that, because of what people like Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump put them through.”
Co-host Danielle Moodie agrees: “I continue to be beside myself that it is almost two years and Donald Trump is free and clear to announce his run for a third term. I just, I don’t get it. It’s all too much. And, as you said, watching their testimony again was heartbreaking all over again.”
“There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Donald Trump directed, incited, and crafted the insurrection,” she adds.
Danielle and Andy also discuss other evidence presented during the hearings, the smartest thing the Jan. 6 committee ever did (Shonda Rhimes is brought up in this part of the conversation), and their hope for Merrick Garland—the person who has the power to make good on the committee’s recommendations.
“The ball is now firmly in Merrick Garland’s court and hopefully he’ll actually pick it up and not just stare at it like a baby with keys,” says Andy.
Also on this episode: Techdirt founder and CEO of The Copia Institute Mike Masnick tries to answer Andy’s burning Elon Musk questions, such as whether or not the Twitter CEO will step down after a “very scientific” poll on the platform and the reason those calls to make Musk answer to Congress for banning reporters are doing more harm than good.
Last, Brooking Institute’s Angela Stent, author of Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest, breaks down the weird infatuation Trump’s Republicans have with Russia, why she thinks former marine Paul Whelan is still in Russian custody, and the ways the country was mocking the U.S. for the Brittney Griner trade.
Plus, can she imagine a scenario where Americans could be “boots on the ground” over in Russia or Ukraine? Nuclear warfare is part of the answer.
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