Jan. 6 hearings target current GOP officeholders along with Trump: The Note

The TAKE with Rick Klein

What happened is not solely in the past — and is not only about former President Donald Trump, either.

Thursday’s primetime opening by the House Jan. 6 committee targeted Trump directly — in part by using the words of his family members and close associates to make the case that Trump and those around him knew he lost but fomented violence anyway.

Perhaps just as striking was the focus on GOP lawmakers who appear to have enabled and, in many cases, continue to excuse the lawlessness around that horrific day. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., offered the startling revelation that multiple House members reached out to the Trump White House in its final days to request pardons for their roles in trying to overturn the election — at least a tacit admission that they knew what they had done was wrong.

Cheney addressed her fellow Republicans directly: “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone. But your dishonor will remain.”

Honor as well as political futures are at stake — not least for Cheney, who is facing a Trump-backed primary opponent later this summer and whose service on the committee continues to leave her colleagues fuming.

Then there are the stakes for democracy. Just in the hours leading up to Thursday’s hearing, a GOP candidate for governor in Michigan was arrested for alleged participation in the Jan. 6 riot; House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy refused to say whether he believes the 2020 election was stolen; and Trump himself called the Jan. 6 protest “the greatest movement in the history of our country.”

Grabbing the attention of the American public is no small task, for the committee or anyone else in the political arena. But the stakes aren’t small either — and, as Cheney and Chairman Bennie Thompson made clear, aren’t solely about the former president’s actions or potential future.

The RUNDOWN with Averi Harper

Former Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is hitting the campaign trail with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace in the final days before the state’s primary on Tuesday.

Haley’s endorsement puts her, a potential Republican presidential contender, opposite former President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Mace’s opponent.

“Nancy Mace is tough as nails,” Haley said in a campaign ad released last month.”She won this seat from a liberal Democrat and she’ll keep it Republican.”

Trump endorsed Katie Arrington after Mace blamed him for rhetoric she said caused the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol. In his endorsement of Arrington, Trump said Mace was “an absolutely terrible candidate” and also “disloyal.” It came in spite of Mace’s February social media post that featured a recording of her outside Trump Tower in New York City praising Trump in a plea for support.

Mace has the backing of both GOP leadership, such as Reps. Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise,…