Key members of the since-disbanded Select Committee on January 6th admit in a new PBS documentary that the entire operation was an election-year publicity stunt.
On Wednesday, Frontline PBS published a new documentary, “Democracy on Trial,” chronicling the House committee’s work. Pivotal players on the partisan probe conceded in the two-and-half-hour documentary that the panel’s public performances produced for prime-time television were orchestrated as entertainment media.
“The one thing that we knew was the information that we have is compelling,” said Illinois congressman-turned CNN commentator Adam Kinzinger. “The thing we needed to do was tell that to the American people in a compelling way.”
The Soviet-style committee eventually became the legacy project for ousted Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who served as vice chair of the panel. By August, Cheney’s futile bid for re-election among one of the nation’s most conservative electorates was characterized as a “Kamikaze Campaign” by New York Magazine. Cheney overwhelmingly lost her effort for a fourth term and published a memoir last December. In the book, Cheney reflected on the committee’s hiring of Goldston to dramatize the hearings to boost Democrats’ electoral prospects. “He came on board and brought with him a number of individuals with years of experience in network news,” Cheney wrote. “Goldston and his team were exceptionally helpful in facilitating that type of presentation. And our outline for each hearing — which took the form of a trial presentation — closely paralleled that structure.”In a remarkable PBS documentary, the January 6th committee admits the entire thing was a publicity stunt / fabricated TV production meant to manipulate the audience. Which is why they brought in the former president of ABC News [James Goldston]
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) January 31, 2024
"It was Goldston who envisioned… pic.twitter.com/R4oboenAnQ
