Following months of build-up and a plethora of coverage (seven minutes and 56 seconds) previewing Thursday’s primetime hearing of the House Select Committee on January 6, ABC’s Good Morning America went all-out on Friday with nearly 12 minutes (11:55) hyping the “powerful,” “high-stakes, primetime hearing” detailing the “carnage at the Capitol” that included Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) having her “moment.”
Co-host Michael Strahan got things started from the opening teases: “On this Friday morning, powerful testimony at the primetime hearing as the January 6th committee makes its case. Carnage at the Capitol...Never before seen video and testimony from Trump's inner circle[.]”
Weekend co-host Whit Johnson had the lead in for their two opening segments, touting the “high-stakes primetime hearing on the January 6th attack on the Capitol with emotional testimony...and graphic video...much of it never seen by the public before.”
Congressional correspondent Rachel Scott followed with a lengthy reporting showing some of the key moments, framed in stark terms as her allies in Congress would want her to:
For the first time, the January 6th Select Committee laying out some of the evidence it has been collecting for nearly a year using dramatic new video and the words of Trump's most inner circle to show just how desperate the former President was to cling to power.
Scott was captivated, recapping their “graphic 12-minute video of the attack,” testimonials from a Capitol Police offier and documentary filmmaker, and remarks from Cheney and Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS). Of course, Scott never mentioned how Thompson himself objected to the 2004 presidential results with concerns they were rigged for George W. Bush.
Having written a book about January 6, chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl swooned over how there “was significant new material...but I think what...the most important thing is the way the committee tied the horror of that day to Donald Trump.”
Regardless of one’s opinion on January 6, it’s safe to say the liberal media will never quit Trump.
Karl went full shill when talking about Cheney, boasting she was made for this:
Liz Cheney did this calmly, without vitriol, without excess emotion, this is her moment. She has treated this like the cause of her life and has issued a challenge to Republicans, when — when she went out and said that there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain. That was her message to Republicans defending what she called the indefensible.
Chief legal analyst Dan Abrams provided the only source of sanity when he pumped the breaks on both the power of the committee and how two members of Congress droning on prior to the video was ineffective (click “expand”):
ABRAMS: Liz Cheney is trying to link the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers with Donald Trump because they have been charged and we saw they have said they were inspired by Donald Trump. But this is what I'm going to be watching for moving forward is particularly it sounds like it will be on day six, the questions are going to be: Can they link Donald Trump directly to the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys? Is there someone in his inner circle who was working with them? The committee has suggested that they may have evidence with that regard. That's going to be, from a legal perspective, a critical question.
STRAHAN: And we heard what Jon said struck him as powerful. What moment struck you as powerful or moments?
ABRAMS: Yeah, it was the use of the people around Donald Trump. It was the Bill Barrs, the Ivanka Trump. It was talking about the White House counsel, et cetera, because then you don't have to listen to the words of the members of Congress themselves and I think that some of the opening statements were too long. I think that — that they lost some people there. I think they brought them back when they had the — the evidence, when they had the accounts from Donald Trump's inner circle.
The 7:30 a.m. Eastern half-hour included a 21-second news brief on the hearing and then, in the 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour, longtime ABC Newser Robach had an interview with the documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, who was embedded with the Proud Boys on that fateful day.
Needless to say, her questions were pedestrian (click “expand”):
Nick, you were working on a documentary about why Americans are so divided. I know you spent some time with the Proud Boys. You knew they were going to the January 6th rally. You went to go film it. But at what point did you realize that things were starting to get out of control?
(....)
I imagine you saw so many unthinkable things that day. Does anything stand out in particular?
(....)
Were you ever concerned for your own personal safety? For you and for your crew?
(....)
I understand a rioter went after you at one point. Can you tell me what happened?
(....)
I know you were there to document history and that is your job and that’s the purpose of this documentary. But what were your personal reflections from that day?
Following the interview, Robach and Johnson were riveted:
ROBACH: An adrenaline overload and, yet, he and his crew were able to stay focused despite —
JOHNSON: Yep.
STRAHAN: Yes.
ROBACH: — the chaos which is really incredible and we have the footage to describe that.
JOHNSON: The way he described it: Thousands of people pouring onto the Capitol like water.
ROBACH: Yeah.
JOHNSON: It’s quite the visual.
ABC’s coverage of the left-wing fundraising extravaganza was made possible thanks to advertisers such as Dell and Ensure. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant ABC transcript from June 10, click here.
