Medved: Jan. 6 committee legitimate, President should testify

Conservative talk show host and author Michael Medved said the Jan. 6 committee did a “substantive job” and was not just a “hog dog for publicity.”

Medved told The Gee and Ursula Show that the committee “interviewed a thousand witnesses. They collected film and tape. We all know vastly more about what really happened. But what we don’t know is the President’s perspective. This is an amazing thing.”

The committee voted to subpoena former President Donald Trump. He responded by stating he wouldn’t come.

The President needs to tell his side of the story

“Trump has said he wanted to get his side of the story out. Supposedly, he’s negotiating with them,” Medved said. “And he is insisting that it should be live, without any chance of editing out something he wants to say.

“I think they’ll agree to that. And they should do it. It’ll be good for the country. Let’s put this thing behind us and get the president to answer the core question,” Medved continued. “And the core question, and this is what’s always bothered me, is what did he expect?

“You’ve got thousands and thousands of extremely upset people who believe the election has been stolen. What did you expect would happen, especially when you knew they were armed?

“The Secret Service has told you lots of these people are armed, carrying guns and of all different kinds. And what did you expect was going to happen when you sent them marching up to the capitol and especially since President Trump expected that he was going to be marching along with them?”

Secret Service material nobody had seen before

Medved was asked about what stood out to him from the hearings.

“I think the Secret Service material that nobody had seen before. Remember, they had a tough time getting hold of it,” Medved said. “There was some evidence that they had actually wiped some secret service devices, so they didn’t have a record of the internal communications.

“They knew almost a month in advance that there was violent intent by these people who are gathering in Washington. And the question really is, was the Secret Service just doing what former President Donald Trump wanted? Or were they actually concerned about keeping Congress safe?

“The idea that you have advanced knowledge that there are going to be tens of thousands of people, many of whom are armed, many of whom were intending violence, and you’re not going to warn the appropriate authorities, you’re not going to be prepared for that attack when it comes. That’s stunning.”

Committee hearing too close to the election

Medved did have some criticism of the committee and the process. “I do wish that they had gotten some kind of agreement for a bipartisan, full commission, but one that would move quickly and move forward. I think it’s too bad that they couldn’t agree on the Republican membership of the Select Committee.

“I would also say against the committee session Thursday is they’re having it too close to the election, just less than three weeks away. It’s tough not to see this at least as a political strategy, because I believe that the more attention that is focused on Donald J. Trump between now and the election on November 8, the worst Republicans are going to do.

Ross: Jan. 6 committee hearings reveal just how far Trump leaned on the Justice Department

“I don’t believe that Americans, however angry they may be, and disappointed and furious with Joe Biden and all his many failings, will wonder if we really want to go back to where every day we’re talking about how deep the damage is that this particular divisive figure is doing to our republic. It doesn’t help Republicans and it doesn’t help the country.”

Republicans were scared of the president

Gee asked him why Republicans did not want to be part of the committee. “I think because people are afraid of Trump. They’re afraid of what he will say, what he will do, he will go after. I think the overwhelming majority of Republican leaders in Congress are terrified that he will be the nominee in 2024, which I think would guarantee a Republican disaster.”

Ursula said that every time Michael comes on, listeners text in or they’ll email us and say, ‘well, yeah, Trump was a jerk or his tweets were mean. But our country was much better when he was in office.’ She asked how do you respond when you hear people in your party who say that they would rather have him than what we’re having today?

“Look, I think that there are some things where you can say America was better off, but I’m not sure that’s because of Trump. In fact, I’m pretty sure that it’s not because of Trump.  You know, how many seats Trump lost in Congress in 2018.

“When they had his midterm election, he lost 43 Republican seats. Some of the best Republicans in Congress were voted out at that time, and they weren’t voted out because people thought Trump was doing such a great job.”

Listen to Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.