General Comments on the January 6 Committee Hearings: Personal Details Matter

 

Look, I know we are not supposed to pay attention to the personal details at the January 6 Committee hearing, but can we be real?  First of all, that is just not how our brains work. The substance of what people say is simply not as memorable as their personal details.  Did anyone not watch Michael Luttig and notice that he was t a l k i n g   v e r y   s l o w l y?  Or watch the videos of Eric Herschmann and not get distracted by the painting on his wall and wonder if it was a panda?

So, yes, let me comment on a few personal details.  

Michael Luttig

Michael Luttig talked very slowly.  Furthermore, that fact, together with his tendency to speak in vague generalities rather than concrete specifics, created the distinct impression that he had some sort of cognitive impairment.  This is not to deny that Luttig is a brilliant legal mind, but he reminded me of an old lawyer I once worked for. His friends assured me that he was once a brilliant legal mind, and I think the old fund of knowledge was still there, but he could not access it at a normal processing speed.  Luttig came across either like that, or like someone struggling with aphasia -- the thoughts are there, but he has great difficulty translating them into words.  Reading the transcript without hearing Luttig's voice, his words sound learned, but also garbled and also a bit evasive, as if he were having trouble accessing old knowledge.  For instance, on the historical precedent of the Vice President's role, Luttig said:

I do know what Mr. Eastman was referring to when he said that there was historical precedent for doing so. He was incorrect. There was no historical precedent from the beginning of the founding in 1789 that even as mere historical precedent as distinguished from legal precedent would support the possibility of the Vice President of the United States quote, "Counting alternative electoral slates that had not been officially certified to the Congress pursuant to the Electoral Count Act of 1887." I would be glad to explain that historical precedent if the committee wanted, but it — it would be a digression.

and later:

Let me explain very simply, this is what I said would require a digression, that I would be glad to undertake if you wished, in short, if I had been advising the Vice President of the United States on January 6th, and even if then Vice President Jefferson, and even then Vice President John Adams, and even then Vice President Richard Nixon had done exactly what the President of the United States wanted his Vice President to do, I would have laid my body across the road before I would have let the Vice President overturn the 2020 election on the basis of that historical precedent.

Some people were impressed by the "lay my body across the road" comment. I, personally, would have preferred to hear what these historical precedents actually were and came away with the suspicion that Luttig was having trouble accessing them. Greg Jacob, the other witness, explained that Thomas Jefferson, presiding as Vice President, accepted the certificate from Georgia despite some small technical flaw that cast no doubt upon the outcome.

Eric Herschmann has very strange things on his wall:  Eric Herschmann did not testify in person at his deposition, but instead gave a video deposition from either his home or office (it was hard to tell).  Either way, we got to see his wall hangings that were -- well, bizarre is a bit strong, so let's just say highly unconventional. There was a large painting of what appeared to be a panda, reflected in water, and a baseball bat labeled "justice."  Herschmann was a bit coarse, though no more so than the circumstances called for, but it was really hard not to be distracted by the mysterious painting on the wall.  Also, the baseball bat was creepy.  What are be supposed to think of a federal prosecutor who thinks of justice as a club for bashing people?

Liz Cheney burnished her image as a woman of the people by asking questions from her country cabin. Also, I am learning to recognize Liz Cheney's voice and tell when she is the one asking a question, even if she is off-camera. 

What is it about Jason Miller and the mask?  I mean, as a Trumpster, Miller is firmly principled against masks.  While there were some masks at the committee depositions, most witnesses did not wear them, even when they were fairly close to other people.  Yet Jason Miller, who appeared at least somewhat isolated, wore a rigid-looking, rigidly attached mask.  Did he just think his natural face was not creepy enough and he wanted to add to the effect?

John Eastman and his lawyer

John Eastman's lawyer was also quite attention-grabbing.  Herschmann told Eastman to "Get a great f-ing criminal defense lawyer. You're going to need it."  And we did, in fact, get to see Eastman with what was presumably his lawyer.  They were an interesting study in contrasts -- an old, withered-looking bald guy, together with a younger man with a full head of hair and a scholarly beard just starting to gray, wearing a bow tie for some reason.  Certainly Mr. Beard-and-Bowtie acted like a lawyer, taking notes, engaging in occasional brief, whispered conferences with his client, and sometimes just giving directions with a nod or a glance before Eastman said, "Fifth."

Shay Moss

There are clear class distinctions in dress.  After interviewing a parade of witnesses from to corridors of power, the Committee put on Shay Moss, and she was clearly different.  And I don't mean that she was the first Black witness to testify.  Chairman Bennie Thompson is also Black, but he walks the corridors of power and looks the part.  Shay Moss was clearly an outsider.  Her clothing and hairstyle did not look out of place.  But it was impossible to miss her weight (she said she had gained 60 pounds from stress), her false eyelashes, her heavily plucked eyebrows, the tattoos on her forearms, and especially her long, pointed, garishly painted finger nails. And I don't mean these things as criticism.  They simply showed that this is not just some insider game within the halls of power.  Regular folks are affected, too.*

And finally, witnesses are more effective who testify live than by deposition, and at length than briefly.  This should not be surprising.  Whenever the Committee showed clips of witness testimony, you just had to wonder if they had been deceptively edited.  Witnesses who testified in person, but briefly, could still sound rehearsed.  Only a live witness with extended give-and-take gave the impression of spontaneity and reality.  The longer-testifying witnesses, except for Luttig, were the most effective.  Greg Jacob, Rusty Bowers, Brad Raffensperger, Gabriel Sterling, and Cassidy Hutchinson were the most effective witnesses. I would also give points to BJay Pak (US attorney for Georgia who investigated claims of fraud), Al Schmidt (Republican election commissioner for Philadelphia), and Ben Ginsberg (Republican elections lawyer), although all would have been better if they were given longer to testify.  And Shay Moss, as a reminder how ordinary people are affected by Trump's lies.

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Ayres and Tatenhove

*I suppose I should also put in a word for Steven Ayres and Jason Van Tatenhove. They, too, were clearly not from the corridors of power.  Ayres wore a suit, but one that would not pass muster in the corridors of power, and in the manner of one who obviously does not normally wear suits.  Tatenhove did not dress up at all.  But neither of them are regular folks and relatable in the way that Moss is.  Tatenhove, in particular, is a former Oath Keeper, which puts him well outside the mainstream.  Ayres, by contrast, is a regular guy who just happened to be part of the mob. But to a lot of people that would disqualify him from regular guy-dom.