For those old enough to remember, this is the most revealing view of democracy, warts and all, since the Watergate hearings of the early 1970s.

Today’s depositions aim to show that “Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information” despite the fact that he knew he had lost the election. Former Fox News staffer Chris Stirewalt is scheduled to testify. There may be as many as eight days of hearings this month, with more planned for September.

By far the most revealing commentary of Thursday’s opening came from Donald Trump’s daughter and adviser, Ivanka Trump, who told the hearing over video link that she does not believe the former president’s claims that his 2020 election defeat resulted from widespread voting fraud. She said she respected the judgment of attorney general William Barr that there was no evidence to support such allegations, which continue to be made by her father.

Incendiary speech

The 2021 riot followed an incendiary speech when Trump told supporters the election had been “stolen” and urged them to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell”. Some 58% of Republicans still view the outcome to be fraudulent, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll last week.

The house committee has gathered more than 140,000 documents and spoken to more than 1,000 witnesses. It views the televised proceedings as an important contribution to educating the public, should it prove necessary to bring criminal proceedings against the former president, thus
debarring him from running for office again in 2024.

Today’s evidence will have to be dramatic to eclipse the contribution of Ivanka Trump and what it may imply for the future and a potential bid for the White House, particularly if the Democrats put their weight behind current vice president Kamala Harris for 2024.

In his blank verse play The 47th, which has just finished its run in London, Mike Bartlett speculates about Ivanka’s political ambitions. The closing two lines have Harris asking the audience, rhetorically: “So having fought to end the father’s war, should I have feared his daughter more?”

We may just have heard the firing of first shots of the next campaign.