Jim Jordan, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert—the gang's all here!

Back when the Clintons and their administration were bedeviled by conservative ratfckers and bed-sniffing yahoos like Ken Starr (and young Brett Kavanaugh), Hillary Rodham Clinton went on TV and called out what she called the “vast, right-wing conspiracy” that had targeted her husband and his presidency. This brought down upon her a veritable avalanche of snotty coverage from a lot of the reporters who’d been lapping up leaks from the ratfckers since before Bill Clinton had finished second in the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary. However, Calvin Trillin corrected her more gently. It wasn’t a vast conspiracy, he said. It actually was “a creepy little cabal.”

Speaking of which… From the New York Times:

The lawmakers — all of them members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus — worked closely with the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, whose central role in Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn a democratic election is coming into focus as the congressional investigation into Jan. 6 gains traction.

The men were not alone in their efforts — most Republican lawmakers fell in line behind Mr. Trump’s false claims of fraud, at least rhetorically — but this circle moved well beyond words and into action. They bombarded the Justice Department with dubious claims of voting irregularities. They pressured members of state legislatures to conduct audits that would cast doubt on the election results. They plotted to disrupt the certification on Jan. 6 of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.

There was Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the pugnacious former wrestler who bolstered his national profile by defending Mr. Trump on cable television; Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, whose political ascent was padded by a $10 million sweepstakes win; and Representative Paul Gosar, an Arizona dentist who trafficked in conspiracy theories, spoke at a white nationalist rally and posted an animated video that depicted him killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York.

They were joined by Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, who was known for fiery speeches delivered to an empty House chamber and unsuccessfully sued Vice President Mike Pence over his refusal to interfere in the election certification; and Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama, a lawyer who rode the Tea Party wave to Congress and was later sued by a Democratic congressman for inciting the Jan. 6 riot. Mr. Perry, a former Army helicopter pilot who is close to Mr. Jordan and Mr. Meadows, acted as a de facto sergeant. He coordinated many of the efforts to keep Mr. Trump in office, including a plan to replace the acting attorney general with a more compliant official. His colleagues call him General Perry.

A conspiracy is taking shape that could be more than enough to warrant throwing the likes of Jordan, Perry, and Gosar out of Congress forever. None of this will happen, of course, but there's now no good excuse for it not to happen. We all know enough about it now. So does the Department of Justice. So does the special committee investigating this.

And while we’re on the subject, while so many people are experiencing holiday crushes on Liz Cheney, we should not overlook that committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson is playing this like a grandmaster. (And part of Thompson’s shrewdness is letting Cheney run point the way she has.) I freely confess that I knew nothing about Thompson except that he was a Democrat from Mississippi. But the way he’s played this so far reminds me of how everyone discovered Sam Ervin after he’d gaveled the Senate Watergate Committee into session. (Thompson, of course, doesn’t have the historic baggage that Ervin had.) He has been circumspect, but dogged in his pursuit of witnesses, and he’s proven to have a deft hand at getting helpful information out into the media. He has them on the run, and it shows.

On Dec. 21, Mr. Trump met with members of the Freedom Caucus to discuss their plans. Mr. Jordan, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Biggs, Mr. Brooks and Mr. Meadows were there. “This sedition will be stopped,” Mr. Gosar wrote on Twitter. Asked about such meetings, Mr. Gosar’s chief of staff said the congressman and his colleagues “have and had every right to attend rallies and speeches.”

“None of the members could have anticipated what occurred (on Jan. 6),” Mr. Van Flein added.

Irrelevant. Intent follows the mob.