It
almost seems like the narrative was created in advance.
As the nation’s capital descended into
chaos on the afternoon of Jan. 6—including angry protests both inside and
outside the Capitol building to object to Congress’s final certification of the
2020 election results—Democratic lawmakers were already spinning. “This is a
violent insurrection,” Rep. Ted Deutsch (D-Fla.) wrote on Twitter at
3:40 p.m. as the mayhem escalated. “An attempted coup by Trump supporters at
his encouragement.”
“This is how we make America great?”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), former chair of the Democratic National
Committee, wrote at 3:09
p.m. ”Violence, storming the Capitol, attempting to block your duly elected
successor by encouraging armed insurrection?” Lawmakers of both political parties
echoed those sentiments throughout the day.
Less than 24 hours later, House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) cemented the emerging storyline about the events of
Jan. 6. “Yesterday, the President of the United States incited an armed
insurrection against America, the gleeful desecration of the U.S. Capitol,
which is the temple of our American democracy, and the violence targeting
Congress are horrors that will forever stay in our nation’s history, instigated
by the President of the United States,” Pelosi raged during a Jan.
7 press conference. “Justice will be done to those who carried out these acts,
which were acts of sedition and acts of cowardice.”
The “armed insurrection” mantra was
cited as key evidence in the Democrats’ second impeachment trial
against former President Donald Trump.
But was it true? In February, I examined federal
indictments filed against nearly 200 people charged in the Justice Department’s
Capitol investigation, which top officials promised would be “unprecedented” in
the agency’s history. At the time, only 14 people faced weapons violations.
Items such as a helmet, riot shield, and pepper spray were described by
government prosecutors as “dangerous or deadly weapons.”
Only two protestors, however, were
found to be in possession of a firearm—and neither was inside the building on
Jan. 6. They were detained later that night and charged for violating
Washington, D.C.’s strict gun control laws.
So, four months later, is there any
proof to back up the pervasive claim that Jan. 6 was an “armed insurrection?”
After all, investigators now have a massive trove of video and social media
posts to document what happened on the day; by now, clips of Trump
insurrectionists carrying guns or braggadocious comments on Facebook should
prove beyond a doubt that an “armed insurrection” indeed nearly toppled the
U.S. government that day.
But another review of the more than 400
people currently charged in the Justice Department’s nationwide manhunt still
fails to support the initial account that hundreds of armed Trump supporters
seized the Capitol with intent to maim, kill, or capture the building. A total
of 44 defendants, roughly 10 percent of those facing any sort of prosecution
related to Jan. 6, stand accused of either possessing or using a dangerous
weapon. Here is the breakdown as of May 1:
- Nine
people with pepper spray;
- Nine
people with a pole or flagpole;
- Four
people with a riot or police shield;
- Four
people with a small baton;
- Three
people with a stick;
- Three
people with a baseball bat;
- Two
people with a taser;
- Two
people with a fire extinguisher;
- Two
people with a crutch;
- One
person with a stun gun/walking stick;
- One
person with a police helmet;
- One
person with a knife;
- One
person with a hockey stick;
- One
person with an ice ax.
Some of the weapons, no doubt, can
cause serious harm and those who used any weapon against a police officer
should, and will, be punished accordingly.
But in many cases, the defendant simply
is charged with carrying the weapon, not using it against anyone. (Some
protesters testified they brought weapons for self-defense in anticipation of
violent engagement with agitators of Antifa or Black Lives Matter.) Richard
Barnett, the man famously photographed inside Pelosi’s office, faces two counts
of possession of a “dangerous or deadly weapon,” to wit, a walking stick that
can be used as a stun gun. In a court hearing last week, Barnett’s lawyer
argued the item didn’t have batteries and wasn’t operational; a federal judge
finally released Barnett from a D.C. jail after he had served nearly four
months awaiting his trial.
In the Justice Department’s
wide-ranging conspiracy case against the Proud Boys, six members face charges
of “entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and carrying a
deadly or dangerous weapon.” But according to a grand jury indictment, only
one man, William Chrestman, had a weapon, a wooden ax handle. He is not accused
of using it.
Prosecutors are trying hard to salvage
another myth about Jan. 6—that Officer Brian Sicknick was killed in the line of
duty by Trump supporters. The New York Times eventually retracted its original
story claiming Sicknick was murdered by “insurrectionists” using a fire
extinguisher but the media wasted no time pivoting to a new spin: Sicknick, the
public was told, died as a result of a reaction to bear repellent sprayed on
him by Trump supporters during the chaos.
But that isn’t true, either. The D.C.
Medical Examiner’s office last month finally admitted Sicknick, 42, died of
natural causes; nonetheless, Joe Biden’s Justice Department is desperate to
keep the storyline alive. In March, two men were charged with using a chemical
spray against the deceased officer. (Prosecutors also had to admit in court
last week the spray was not bear spray but a small can of pepper spray.)
George Tanios and Julian Khater now sit
in jail denied bond, each facing three counts of using and possessing a deadly
weapon even though there is no proof the spray used by Khater hit Officer
Sicknick or his colleagues—just more prosecutorial blocking to support Nancy
Pelosi’s stagecraft.
Much of Jan. 6 is a manufactured
illusion, another exercise in political spin making for partisan gain. But no
amount of performative wishful thinking by the media, Democrats, and plenty of
Republicans about the existence of an “armed insurrection” on Jan. 6 can turn
their imagination into reality.