Trump terrorists broke into the Capitol, stole artifacts and furniture, threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence who Trump condemned as spineless, and Democrats they believed Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen. Only the Capitol police put but a resistant fight: one was killed for it (Brian Sicknick) while several were wounded with bear mace, throttling with US flags and even their own shields that had been taken from them, and other devices by racist bigots were pounding them–or inviting them to convert to their cause.1
Capitol police testify that the riot of Jan 6 was an act of domestic terrorists willing to kill all police officers
Officer Dunn with mother of police officer Brian Sicknick slain by rioters
Four officers, two from the U.S. Capitol Police and two from the D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, on Tuesday detailed the racism and bigotry they encountered during the violent assault on the Capitol. Their direct, harrowing accounts laid out the hours when the pro-police sentiment of supporters of former President Donald Trump was pushed aside, consumed by the fury of wanting to keep him in the White House. To this end the domestic terrorists, egged on by Southern Baptist preachers and Trump grifters assassinated Brian Sicknick, caused mental breakdowns among many officers, while white lawmakers ran–but black officers held the line.2
Capitol police officer Harry Dunn was assaulted for voting for Biden.
Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who is Black, stands six feet seven inches tall and has a muscular frame, argued with the rioters that he voted for Biden and that his vote should be counted, a crowd began hurling the N-word at him. “One woman in a pink ‘MAGA’ (Make America Great Again) shirt yelled, ‘You hear that, guys, this n——— voted for Joe Biden!’” said Dunn, who has served more than a dozen years on the Capitol Police force. “Then the crowd, perhaps around 20 people, joined in, screaming “Boo! F——— n—— !” he testified. “It’s just so disheartening that people like that will attack you just for the color of your skin,” Dunn replied. “Once I was able to process it, it hurt. My blood is red. I’m an American citizen. I’m a police officer. I’m a peace officer.”3
Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone testified the riot was like a “medieval battle site”.
Contrary to Trump’s lie, there was no “loving crowd of tourists” no “hugging and kissing” among the domestic terrorists invading the Capitol while screaming “Kill him”.4 Instead, as Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone5 said at the first session of the Congressional investigation into the riot, stated: “I was grabbed, beaten, Tased (sic: tasered), all while being called a traitor to my country.”6 The police officers noted that the “tourists” were not loving, hugging, and kissing, but they were armed with flags, steel pipes, table legs, chemical weapons, guns — even a cattle prod, with one crowing: “Get your machete.” and others chanting: “kill him with his own gun.”7 All the police noted it was a terrorist attack on the Capitol.8
Jordan and Stefanik oppose the House hearing on the riot of Jan 6.
Yet, the Republicanazis in Congress, like Gym Jordan who spoke with Trump during the invasion by traitors who wanted to destroy the Constitution,9 and Elise Stefanik,10 continued to peddle lies,11 disgracing the police who risked their lives to save them.12. A majority of Americans support the Congressional investigation of January 6.13 Fox News exposed as a fascist megaphone for Trump,14 lost all credibility with the hearings. Trump was called out publicly by Carl Bernstein as our own American war criminal15 who should be tried in the World Court in the Hague for genocide he did nothing to stop and for the lies he told to divide the nation.16
U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell testifies before the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via AP)
Ever since the attack, Trump has repeatedly tried to downplay the role he and his supporters played. In a video belatedly released hours after rioters breached the Capitol, Trump called for them to “go home in peace.” But he also added: “We love you. You’re very special.” Since then, he’s insisted many attendees were “loving” people who were “hugging and kissing the police and the guards.” The four officers would have none of it. “I’m still myself recovering from those hugs and kisses,” Latino Sgt. Aquilino Gonell said. “If that was all hugs and kisses we should go to his house and do the same thing to him.”17 “There was an attack on Jan. 6. And a hit man (inferring Trump) sent them. I want you to get to the bottom of that,” he said.18 “Even though there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary, including hours and hours of video and photographic coverage, there is a continuous and shocking attempt to ignore or try to destroy the truth of what truly happened that day and to whitewash the facts,” Gonell said.
DC Officer Daniel Hodges said rioters tried to recruit him during their assault on Congress.
The officers said they didn’t fire their weapons Jan. 6 because they were so outnumbered and thought it would cause armed people in the crowd to begin firing. “If that turned into a firefight, we would have lost and this was a fight we couldn’t afford to lose,” Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges said. Video of Hodges screaming for help while wedged in a door between officers and rioters is one of the most widely seen videos from the attack. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., a committee member, said she had been hiding in an office 40 feet from the tunnel entrance that Hodges and Fanone defended and could hear the fighting and the officers’ screams. “You were our last line of defense,” she said. “I shudder to think what would have happened had you not held that line.” At least 140 officers were injured — some permanently — and five people died either in the melee or in the hours after, including a police officer. Two officers died by suicide in the days after the attack. Damage estimates exceed $1 million.19
From left, U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone, Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges and U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn were sworn in Tuesday to testify to the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 incident on Capitol Hill in Washington. Adrew Harnik?AP
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/07/27/january-6-committee-live-updates-house-holds-capitol-riot-hearing/5374754001/ cp. https://people.com/politics/geraldo-rivera-says-sean-hannity-has-been-gaslighting-about-capitol-riots/ cf. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/us/jan-6-capitol-attack-takeaways.html with domestic terrorists fervent supporters of Trump: https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-07-28/restaurant-owners-capitol-riot-arrest-rattles-hometown and https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/capitol-riot-probe-must-uncover-everything-that-happened-at-white-house-cheney-says.html. ↩
- https://www.msnbc.com/mehdi-on-msnbc/watch/family-of-fallen-capitol-police-officer-brian-sicknick-speaks-out-115585093710. ↩
- https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-government-and-politics-riots-race-and-ethnicity-capitol-siege-b3eb4a7f1a0d183c9db89a08c84a70cb. ↩
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXWMNcCbqiM. ↩
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/13/michael-fanone-body-camera-capitol-riot/. ↩
- https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-government-and-politics-race-and-ethnicity-capitol-siege-racial-injustice-c02c5c25149b47e8dbac40ff7d4d6b9e. ↩
- loc. cit. ↩
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da7HR3vnpGc. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UwTzm5CCNw. ↩
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAa6u77Wf0s. ↩
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44uuYQg-xuo. ↩
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8fhtBfyq3A&t=1s. ↩
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8fhtBfyq3A. ↩
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRV9tgiPe0U. ↩
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVdMVinqY2M&t=123s. Cf, with John Bolton recognizing Trump as a fascist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-LN2Z2GtgM. ↩
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYFcJit5Ol8. ↩
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHfb62L8eKE, ↩
- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino-officer-tearfully-describes-devotion-defending-capitol-jan-6-at-rcna1527. ↩
- https://www.npr.org/2021/07/27/1021161550/this-is-how-im-going-to-die-police-sergeant-recalls-the-terror-of-jan-6. Watch the testimony on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWlg05IV-iM. ↩
- https://www.indianagazette.com/news/officers-detail-violence-they-faced-on-jan-6/article_44697562-0311-5129-9496-4e2cced54949.html. ↩
Excellent article! I can always count on you to present information that has been thoroughly researched and vetted via multiple sources. The travesty of the Jan.6 riot & violent (albeit poorly planned) attempt to take over the government of this country remains a stain on the character of the Republican Party, as well as that of all those who participated in or even supported this seditious act while attempting to dodge the consequences.
As I grow more astonished at the ignorance of those who somehow find their way into office, I wonder why public education systems abandoned the requirements that used to be in place for high school graduation: (a) successful completion of two years of a foreign language; (b) four years of English – yes, there are actually many levels to understanding one’s own native tongue; (c) fundamentals of business manners, etiquette, & ethics, plus at least (d) one full year of Civics and Government classes. NO individual should be sworn into office in this country, at any level, who can’t grasp the basic concepts of our government & our Constitution, or who lacks respect for, or faith in, our system of democracy. Our government has been a remarkable experiment & it’s not over yet. I refuse to sit quietly as domestic terrorists shove us into fascism, while screaming blatant lies about socialism. Those of us who are old enough to have lived through history are not going to permit Trump or his acolytes to revise the record to suit their purposes.
Thank you, Art, for your bravery in writing the truth and posting it here for anyone and everyone to read. I look forward to your next article.
When I went to school (a long time ago: back in 1947-1960, education meant something: that Iowa no longer exists and Iowa now is one of the worse states to attempt to get an education. We had to learn a foreign language in junior high (I took Latin) and another in high school (I studied Spanish and French)–and we had to have a C+ or higher to pass). We studied Civics, a course on the Constitution and another on immigration and civil rights. We had to master mathematics and algebra (there were no computers), typing (not electric), English literature (American, British, and world), politics (world), and more. We had to write papers, and all tests were essays that the teacher read with a red pen that circled every error and suggestions how to improve it. My BA studies required library science, more math and languages, and a concentration that was in a field plus English composition: my BA thesis was 1902 pages counting bibliography where each work I cited has to be discussed to show that I read it. I took my first MA in Iowa (where all previous education was studied), and I wrote a thesis that my professor at the University of Cincinnati judged equal to a PhD dissertation. I went on to other universities until I took my last doctorate at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1974 with another dissertation on death perception and the psychology of suicide based on vitae and hagiography of Thomas of Canterbury (popularly known as Thomas Becket, the last “name” was an insult by nobles who a junior (cadet) at Bec).
Having had the privilege of teaching from Hawaii, San Diego, Texas, and Peru, I became painfully aware that the quality of education was spiraling down into an abyss of ignorance. Peru was the worst with students telling me that since they paid their tuition they would automatically get a diploma at UCV. When I was fired from my position at UCV by the Director of Foreign Languages because (1) I was too old, and (2) I had written too many books using too many foreign languages, she wanted me to endow the UCV library that had a collection of 18 illegally photocopied “books” with my private collection of over 35,000 hardbound books, incunables, and scrolls. I laughed and walked home, passing at the security station the three teenagers she had hired to replace me. I still hear from some students who write that it is getting worse. It seems like bad education is a worldwide curse. I lament that reality, and will keep researching and writing even if I have to use “un-American alphabets” (Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Russian, and Arabic: they all have histories and stories to tell). Please keep reading and commenting. I cherish people like you.