In May 2021, 35 Senate Republicans killed a bipartisan effort to create an independent commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol – arguably the greatest attack on American democracy since the Civil War.
A week earlier, 175 House Republicans opposed creating the commission, too.
139 Republicans in Congress sided with Trump and his lie instead of protecting American democracy, including these house representatives from Ohio …
Jim Jordan (Ohio)
Steve Chabot (Ohio)
Bill Johnson (Ohio)
Bob Gibbs (Ohio)
Warren Davidson (Ohio)
In the the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, seven people died and about 150 police officers were injured. 768 have been arrested on charges ranging in seriousness up to sedition. The House committee now is interviewing witnesses, subpoenaing others, and it appears to be focusing on the role Trump and his allies played before and during the riot.
The House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol said in March that there was enough evidence to conclude that former President Donald J. Trump and some of his allies might have conspired to commit fraud and obstruction by misleading Americans about the outcome of the 2020 election and attempting to overturn the result.
The attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 could be the most documented crime in U.S. history. Surveillance and law enforcement body cameras captured more than 15,000 hours of footage. The federal government has snagged some 1,600 electronic devices, each likely teeming with electronic communications.
Citizens from across the country have flooded the FBI with more than 270,000 tips, which include videos, photos and social media posts. And the rioters themselves extensively captured their exploits on camera, posting hours of digital evidence of the rampage. Thanks to that torrent of evidence, more than 370 suspects have been arrested on charges related to the insurrection.
(Vera Bergengruen and W.J. Hennigan. “The Capitol Attack Was the Most Documented Crime in History. Will That Ensure Justice?” Time. April 9, 2021.)
January 6, like September 11, will now live in infamy as one of the darkest days in recent history. We witnessed firsthand how Trump coordinated and participated in the attack. He formed the mob under false pretenses and pushed them towards the Capitol – Trump lit the flame of insurrection right before our eyes. He effectively perpetrated the Big Lie of election fraud.
First and foremost, now former President Donald Trump says he wished he could have joined his supporters in marching on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Secret Service said I couldn’t go,” Trump told The Washington Post during an interview at his Mar-a-Lago club on April 7, 2022 “I would have gone there in a minute.”
(Josh Dawsey. “Trump deflects blame for Jan. 6 silence, says he wanted to march to Capitol.” The Washington Post. April 07, 2022.)
Consider the law that applies to Trump's crimes. These words appear in 18 U.S. Code § 2384, defining the phrase “seditious conspiracy”:
“If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.”
(Michael Tomasky. “Trump Is Obviously Guilty of Sedition, So Why Is the January 6 Committee Wavering?” New Republic. April 11, 2022.)
Then, review Trump's actions …
Trump urged the throng to come to Washington because it was going to be “wild!” and then egged them on to march to the Capitol to force the vice president to break the law; he was in a place under U.S. jurisdiction; and the rest of the language –“overthrow,” “put down,” “oppose by force,” “prevent,” “hinder,” and so on – sounds like a literal description of January 6, 2021.
Remember that he also called a state election official in Georgia and instructed him to break the law.
Donald Trump must be held accountable for his actions. His reckless, criminal activity – his own words and deeds – resulted in the worst attack on the U.S. government in D.C. since Aug. 22, 1814, the infamous day during the War of 1812 when British troops tried to capture Washington and burn the White House.
But now, Republicans want to free Trump from facing the consequences of his direct participation.
Let's Go Back To 2021
At first, top Republicans were forceful in their repudiations of president Trump, blaming him directly for the Jan 6 insurrection at the Capitol and blasting his false claims that he was robbed of a second term.
On January 6, just following the assault on the Capitol, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated …
"This failed attempt to obstruct the Congress, this failed insurrection, only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our Republic."
Then on February 13, after the Senate acquitted Trump during his 2nd impeachment, McConnell stated …
"Former President Trump's actions that preceded the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty... There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day."
Even Senator Lindsey Graham, longtime Trump supporter, blasted him for demanding that former Vice President Pence block certification of the Electoral College vote, calling it “the most offensive concept in the world” and insisting it would amount to a single person deciding to “disenfranchise 155 million people.” Citing a litany of court rulings against Trump’s election challenges, and the absence of evidence of fraud, Graham declared: “Enough is enough” and “Count me out!”
And, how about the testimony of four police officers who who bravely defended the Capitol from the pro-Trump mob? They criticized the former president and Republicans who are loyal to him for allegedly inspiring and then downplaying the attack.
They asked members of the House select committee investigating the events of that day to get to the bottom of their culpability. Fox News, yes Fox News, reported …
"You guys are the only ones we've got to deal with crimes that occur above us," Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officer Daniel Hodges said. "I need you guys to address if anyone in power had a role in this. If anyone in power coordinated, or aided abetted or tried to downplay, tried to prevent the investigation of this terrorist attack."
(Tyler Olson. “Cops blame Trump, Republicans for allegedly inspiring and then downplaying Jan. 6 Capitol attack.” Fox News. July 27, 2021.)
But now, Republicans, with rare exceptions have lost their courage and their supposed convictions. And guess why? Politics and votes, of course. Republicans choose fealty to Trump over respect for democracy.
“At the end of the day,” Michigan GOP Rep. Peter Meijer admitted morbidly on “Meet the Press” to begin 2022, “there’s no other option right now in the Republican Party.”
“No other option”? How about making the guilty – Donald Trump – face the consequences of his actions? Instead, the good old, law-and-order, conservative Republicans choose to twist the truth and lie to the nation. It's sickening to think they are attempting to make people believe what they saw for themselves didn't really happen.
By spring 2021, the gravity of the events of Jan. 6 seemed to pale to the GOP, and Trump loyalists were soon busy recasting history. Sen. Ron Jonson of Wisconsin called the insurrection a “peaceful protest.” Back benchers like Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia likened the mob violence to “a normal tourist visit.”
In their despicable campaign of deflection, the GOP tried to sync up with Trump’s Tweet-like musings, including blaming Nancy Pelosi (somehow) for having failed to anticipate – and fortify the Capitol against – the assault by the MAGA mob. It was pure nonsense.
Holding tight to Trump’s lies, Republicans blocked an independent commission to investigate Jan. 6. McConnell decried the quest for accountability for the Capitol siege as a “purely political exercise” – echoing Trump who called it “just more partisan unfairness” and a “Democrat trap.”
(Tim Dickinson. “Republicans Promised to Banish Jan. 6 Insurrectionists. A Year Later, They’ve Purged Jan. 6 Critics.” Rolling Stone. January 5, 2022.)
Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone writes …
“Trump and his apologists, enablers, and yes men have — at least for the rank-and-file of the Republican base — succeeded in warping reality. A late-December poll by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, tells the story: Only 6 percent of Republicans surveyed believe the election of Joe Biden was “definitely legitimate” …
“Overwhelmingly, GOP voters view public concern about the storming of the Capitol as overblown. Only 7 percent of Republicans hold Trump responsible for the events of Jan. 6. A full 80 percent of Republicans describe the insurrection as a “protest,” and three quarters are confident no harm would have come to lawmakers had they been reached by the mob. When it comes to accountability, a majority of Republicans oppose efforts to identify, arrest and prosecute the participants; 75 percent of the party thinks it’s time to stop looking for lessons from the assault — and move on.”
(Tim Dickinson. “Republicans Promised to Banish Jan. 6 Insurrectionists. A Year Later, They’ve Purged Jan. 6 Critics.” Rolling Stone. January 5, 2022.)
The Republican National Committee attempted to portray the investigation as a favorite Trump term — a witch hunt. In a statement announcing the censure of the congressional committee’s Republican members, the RNC called the investigation “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
And Ohio Republicans?
Ohio congressman Jim Jordan has said he won't voluntarily cooperate with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol, describing the "Democrat obsession" as the latest of the "partisan witch hunts."
“Governor DeWine does not have new comment on this issue,” his press secretary, Dan Tierney said.
A spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said he had no comment on the matter.
Perhaps the most direct response came from Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague. He didn’t address the RNC statement, but in an email, he said, “Dissent and demonstration are protected under the first amendment — violence is not.”
When Luke Sullivan, Attorney General Dave Yost’s spokesman, was asked whether Yost agreed with the RNC statement, he didn’t speak directly to that question.
“The AG tweeted on Jan. 6, 2021 regarding this topic, I’d use that as his comment,” Sullivan said in an email.
(Mary Schladen. “RNC Calls Capitol Violence 'Legitimate.' Do Ohio Statewides Agree?” Ohio Capital Journal. February 11, 2022.)
Final Word
GOP members of Congress characterize Jan. 6 participants as innocent tourists who are being unfairly persecuted. The Republican Party officially declared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and events that led to it “legitimate political discourse,” and rebuked two lawmakers in the party who have been most outspoken in condemning the deadly riot and the role of Donald J. Trump in spreading the election lies that fueled it.
The Republican National Committee’s voice vote to censure Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois at its winter meeting in Salt Lake City culminated more than a year of vacillation, which started with party leaders condemning the Capitol attack and Mr. Trump’s conduct, then shifted to downplaying and denying it.
The party went further in a resolution slamming Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinzinger for taking part in the House investigation of the assault, saying they were participating in “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
(Jonathan Weisman and Reid J. Epstein G.O.P. Declares Jan. 6 Attack ‘Legitimate Political Discourse.'” The New York Times. February 04, 2022.)
Today,
I watched in
horror as insurrectionists,
[hooligans and rabble-rousers]
stormed our nation's capital.
Today,
While
chaos reigned, I was afraid
our republic was slipping away
at
the hands of a radical few.
Today,
Sadness
plunged me into despair
that a president would encourage
a
mob to march on up to the hill.
Today,
I feared
this nation might perish
like democracies of ages past
for
lack of patriotic courage.
Today,
I
wondered if America would ever sing
again the songs of liberty,
know the peace of unity.
L. Milton Jankins. https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/january-62021/. January 7, 2021
A series of photos shows how quickly the flash occurred. REUTERS/Leah Millis
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