Last week Donald Trump called for “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” This tirade was in response to the release of messages between Twitter leaders regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop contents being withheld from their platform prior to the 2020 election. Somehow, Trump equated this to “A massive fraud” that somehow resulted in his defeat. Of course this is not the first time Trump has tried to overturn the Constitution. His most blatant attempt was on January 6, 2021.

As the House select committee on January 6th nears its conclusion, it is vital that Chairman Bennie Thompson avoid allowing the messaging to be taken over by outside forces or political pundits as was the case prior to the release of the Mueller Report. This is even more of an imperative now considering Trump’s latest attack on our Constitution. Chairman Thompson must schedule a final prime time presentation to the American people prior to January 3 to provide a detailed accounting of all the facts, findings, evidence of criminal behavior and recommendations resulting from their 18-month investigation of the attack on the Capitol and the Constitution on January 6, 2021.

In order to clearly and accurately inform the American people of the facts and implications resulting from this investigation, the Committee must take control of the reporting and disclosure of the report. The Chairman must apply strict internal controls to prevent any leaks by committee members or staff prior to the official release of the report. While this may be wishful thinking, this report is too important to allow it to be misrepresented, distorted, debated, or to allow spin masters to confuse or misinform the American people as was done with the Mueller Report. Let the people hear the facts first from the Committee before any other entity has an opportunity to confuse the issue.

It is critical that the committee does everything possible to avoid the same mistakes that took place with the Mueller Report release. As a result of that disaster, the public was led to believe that Mr. Trump was fully exonerated of any wrongdoing, which was totally untrue. The entire narrative was taken over by political forces and once done, it was impossible to change that narrative or convince the public of the truth. We cannot allow that to happen again this time. The Constitution, history and the rule of law demand nothing less.