Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile raged at former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Sunday when Christie said the Jan. 6 committee lacks credibility.
Christie and Brazile, who are both contributors for ABC, sparred in a segment of the ABC show “This Week.”
Brazile touched off the debate by claiming the work of the House panel is resonating with the American people, according to a video of the show posted to YouTube.
Julie Pace, executive editor of the Associated Press, said the committee “does not seem to be driving the conversation, particularly on the campaign trail.”
She added that “in terms of the impact that it is having in real time on this midterm election, it is hard to see that right now.”
That contention was supported by a July Morning Consult poll that shows only 32 percent of voters in its survey had been following the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, whose claims had been billed as bombshell evidence by the panel.
Christie then offered his take on the reason for that.
“I think the January 6th committee, despite some of the really good work they’ve done, and I agree with Julie on some of the — bringing out of facts that they’ve done — was resigned to having a credibility problem because of the membership of the committee and the way that was done,” the New Jersey Republican said.
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“And so there are lots of Republicans across this country who just say, there’s nobody there to argue the other side. Kinzinger and Cheney don’t argue the other side to the extent that there is some arguments there,” he said, referencing Republican Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who are the only two GOP members of the panel.
After some crosstalk and objections from Brazile, Christie said, “I think that you can question a lot of these witnesses who came up and, and test their credibility, Donna.”
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Amid more crosstalk, Brazile dropped the name of former Attorney General William Barr and interjected, “You’re going to test the credibility of the former attorney general?”
“You’re going to test the credibility of the people who were inside the Oval Office advising the president?” she added.
“Now, I don’t know, Donna, you want to just keep talking or you want me to give — you want me to give the answer?” Christie finally snapped.
“You can test the credibility of people and by doing that it can give them more credibility. But instead they’re just, it’s a TV production,” he said.
“Yes, you’re going to test the credibility of the cops who got their heads smashed in. Is that — that’s who you’re going to test,” Brazile said.
Christie brushed aside the interjection and said, “There are lots of people inside the White House who now have convenient memories about things that didn’t have memories about them before. You can ask questions about that.”
Christie said the panel’s efforts do not resonate because of its decisions on where to focus its efforts.
“You know, in the end, what the January 6th committee has made this all about is Donald Trump and his role in January 6th,” Christie continued.
“But when he’s not on the ballot, it’s very hard for Democrats to be able to make this a cutting issue, especially in the light of huge inflation, gas prices, crime in the streets, open borders, drug overdoses, those things are things that are affecting people’s everyday lives and they don’t see it that way,” he said.
Last week, the panel indicated that it would subpoena former President Donald Trump, according to Politico.
“We have left no doubt, none, that Donald Trump led an effort to upend American democracy that directly resulted in the violence on January 6,” Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the panel’s chair, said Thursday. “He tried to take away the voice of the American people and replaced the will of the voters with his will to remain in power. He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on January 6.”
