THE BREACH

A newsworthy book that centers on revelations gained by way of the higher-tech end of the Jan. 6 committee.

“We’re in an information war, and it’s house-to-house fighting,” write Riggleman, a former Republican representative who lost his Virginia seat in a primary election to a Trumpian candidate to his right, and political journalist Walker. Using his skills as a one-time intelligence officer, Riggleman ferreted out phone and text records to make some critical discoveries. One was the oversize role of Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in the conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Even though dozens of her texts have been recovered and entered into the record, “we are still learning about just how deeply Ginni Thomas was involved in trying to thwart the will of the American voters.” Given Clarence’s sole vote to conceal records from the committee, the authors suggest that he is implicated in the coup attempt. So, too, was an army of lawyers, right-wing media, and members of the government and Congress itself. “The January 6th plot had a political arm, a media arm, a military arm, and a legal one,” write the authors, delivering evidence that some military personnel were ready to join the effort to overturn the government. Perhaps more disturbing is Riggleman’s discovery that the coup was directed by phone calls from within the White House—and, he hazards, very probably by Trump himself: “You can see the signals through all of Trump’s noise. We know what he is.” Readers may want to skip over the memoir bits of the narrative. Some passages highlight Riggleman’s talent to explain how and why people can be manipulated, but they don’t do much to advance the story. Still, what a story it is.

An essential work of detection, uncovering crimes at the highest level of the Trump White House.