The House Select Committee hearings to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol began yesterday. I watched testimony from four police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, and I will watch future hearings even though I am weary of reading and hearing about why an angry army of Trump supporters marched to Capitol Hill to disrupt the House of Representatives and possibly kill Speaker of the House Pelosi and Vice President Pence.
Although parts of the hearings could be tedious, watching them is a civic duty. All of us have an obligation to understand what happened on January 6, why it happened, and to support actions to prevent anything like the insurrection from happening again.
Tuesday’s testimony from Capitol police officers was riveting. The officers described how the rioters threw things at them, sprayed them with bear repellent, and kicked them. We already know that but hearing directly from the officers provided new perspectives on the terror at the Capitol during the insurrection. Any thought that the rioters were “loving people” was blown-away. Many of the rioters were ready to kill for their cause. The officers saw this first hand.
Future hearings will get to the questions that are not definitively resolved for a substantial part of the American public. These questions include: Who came up with the idea of storming the Capitol? Was it Trump? Was it one of the militia groups?
All of us should want to know the answers to these questions. Even staunch supporters of President Trump should be interested in the answers, especially if they believe that leftist groups were involved. Wouldn’t you want hard proof of that to surface?
I also am interested in learning who financially supported transportation and housing for rioters, many of whom travelled long distances for the opportunity to participate. Did these donors know that they were supporting an armed insurrection against the government? Or were they simply responding to yet another Trump fundraising campaign?
Knowing the details of why and how the insurrection happened is important to the future of America. It is not healthy for some of us to dismiss the evidence that I consider clear as “fake.” It is dangerous for some groups to believe that the rioters were right, that the election was “stolen” and that later this summer the facts will emerge resulting in Trump being reinstated in the White House.
All those thoughts bring us to the question of whether the Select Committee is up to the task. The answer to that isn’t clear. Republicans, in my view, tried to blow up the Committee by appointing two of Trump’s fiercest defenders to the panel: Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jim Banks (R-IN). Both are on record to agreeing with Trump that the 2020 election was stolen, leading one to wonder whether they might also agree with Trump that the rioters were “beautiful, loving people” and that attacking police and smashing windows on January 6 was a patriotic act.
Speaker Pelosi was right to exclude these two members from the panel. With good reason, she believed that they would not approach the committee’s work in good faith. She expected them to attempt to disrupt the hearings by insisting that its scope be broadened to include last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, relitigate allegations of election fraud, and continually interrupt sessions. Jim Jordan’s skills as a disruptive, no-holds-barred partisan are well documented.
Much to the frustration of Trump Republicans, Pelosi appointed two GOP members to the panel: Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-PA). Both voted to impeach Donald Trump in January (his second impeachment) and have been vocal critics of President Trump. Both also proved themselves to be good choices to serve on the Select Committee during its first hearing yesterday.
As has been widely reported, after Speaker Pelosi’s rejections of Jordan and Banks, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced that Republicans would not participate on the Committee. Unfortunately for him, given that Cheney and Kinzinger are on the committee, that is not true.
Thanks to McCarthy’s decision, which I will call wrong-headed, the committee may now produce a bipartisan, unanimous report. It will be a good thing if it does.
McCarthy squandered his opportunity to appoint calmer, more rational members to the committee who could have asked many questions that Americans with open minds want answered. I expect Cheney and Kinzinger to ask some of these questions, but their well-known belief that Trump was at least partially responsible for January 6 will undermine their credibility. That’s unfortunate.
There are several interesting possibilities for the hearings. First, it has been reported that Representative Jordan spoke to President Trump during the riots. As a result, he may be subpoenaed to testify. What might Trump and Jordan have talked about? Golf? I wonder if Jordan expressed support for the riot or even encouraged Trump to “let it play out.” Hopefully, Jordan did nothing of the sort. It would be nice to think that he was as horrified by the events taking place around him as the rest of us.
I’m also interested in hearing from Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO). He was captured pumping a fist to acknowledge rioters as he walked in front of the Capitol. What was going on there? Was Hawley somehow confused or did he have advanced knowledge of the attack?
Finally, I’m wondering if subpoenas might be issued to Trump himself, to his sinister aide, Stephen Miller, and to various White House and military officials who were aware that an insurrection was going on at the Capitol and are said to have been unable to get the President to do anything to stop it.
As an American, I need to know the answers to these and many other questions. It’s not because I need more information to conclude that Trump was a bad president. It’s because I never want to see our system of constitutional government come as close to collapse again as it did on January 6.
J.E. Dean of Oxford is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant writing on politics, government, birds, and occasionally goldendoodles
Stephen Schaare says
Mr. Dean , I cannot invest the time and energy to rebut your hatred and lies. It was not an “armed insurrection”. None of the protestors were armed, and you know this very well. I saw one person wearing horns, but no video of him charging anyone.
Yes, I saw a few minutes of the theater. I saw grown, veteran policeman weeping and mewling. Perhaps they chose an incorrect career path?
After a few minutes I realized we(United States) could never win WWII today. It was my turn to weep.
Henry Herr says
Do you any proof that the insurrectionists weren’t armed? There are plenty of reports to the contrary.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/19/977879589/yes-capitol-rioters-were-armed-here-are-the-weapons-prosecutors-say-they-used
parsons says
Well, yes, they WERE armed. With all manner of weapons. That is clear from the videos of that event. If someone came up to you and clubbed you with a steel pole, sprayed bear spray in your face and then stomped on you, I wonder if your view of that would change. As for grown men crying. Real men cry. These are real men who were doing their duty. I believe you are the “mewler” here.
Jane Chesterfield says
Well Mr. Dean,
Respectively, I have read a number of your articles and understand that you seem to know everything about everything when it comes to politics and I completely understand where you stand politically.
I am not going to argue or discuss any of what you have written. I would only like to share with you that I am a legal immigrant to this country and I love the USA.
I have been a grass roots small donator to the Republican Party in the past so I received too many emails “inviting” me to the January 6th
Trump rally in DC. I thought, in light of all that had transpired in the previous years of Trump’s Presidency and President Biden’s election, that you would have to be crazy to make a decision to go to DC on that date.
I believe that you have to be responsible for your own actions and not blame anyone else.
Having said that, I knew that there would be “trouble” so I am shocked that Speaker Pelosi and others had not given enough thought about security regarding that rally.
The fact that there was civil disobedience is no surprise. It was plainly obvious that this would occur, especially with all the unrest across the country in the summer of 2020.
Everyone is responsible for their own criminal actions – or for their political inaction when you “serve” the country as a trusted member of the Government.
Michael Davis says
I am happy, Mr. Dean, that in your retirement you write these columns for the Talbot Spy. I subscribe to the Star Democrat because I believe in the need for a local press. The Star Democrat has reporters and photographers that go and cover local events. But I skip over their editorial page as their guest columnists deny climate change, think the National Security Agency is out to get Tucker Carlon, write that the Confederate flag is not a racist symbol and that Andy Harris was right in thinking the election was stolen. They have worse ones than these, like ask me about their church columnists. Meanwhile, I can come to the Talbot Spy (that I do support) to find reasonable columnists such as yourself. Not to say a few wackadoodle aren’t published here – like the PTH folks – but overall you make this a good place to go for thought-provoking reading. Thank you!
Richard Marks says
Excuse me, Stephen.
Arms are weapons. In case my eyes deceived me those flagpoles being used to beat the policemen were not light sabres. Surely you and I watched different videos of that day. As well, your comment about those men and women defending our Capitol, in a word used by one of them in yesterday’s hearing, is “disgraceful”.
By the way, Jane, the Speaker of the House has no direct responsibility for the security of the Capitol. Nice try to deflect responsibility and accountability away from our former Instigator in Chief and others.
Stephen Schaare says
Richard, I do not deflect. Speaker of House is final authority on Capitol Police. Look it up, Jane.
Jane Chesterfield says
No direct responsibility but some (google).
Pelosi does have many people/interns working for her. Only a fool/fools would ignore the apparent warnings of what could happen. The rally was well publicized.
I would have had security on full force. As would the majority of us tax paying Americans because we are smart enough to have recognized the likelihood of civil unrest.
Anne Stalfort says
Thank you Mr. Dean. As to the others commenting on your commentary: I know the family of one of the police officers who testified. They know that their son showed amazing courage on Jan. 6th; and that their son almost died that day. When people storm the very seat of our democracy, break windows, carry Confederate flags, attack police officers with flag poles and police shields, those people are instructions.
John Fischer says
I have no sympathy for the morons who invaded our capitol building, Mr. Dean. They will be tried and judged in our courts and should be, and are likely to be, punished severely.
The publicity event Ms.Pelosi is orchestrating is cheap political theater. In this piece, you play your bit part.
Deirdre LaMotte says
Absolutely. The deflecting that the GOP is doing is
to keep their base riled, with lies. The people who stormed the Capital on 1/6/21 were a cross section of misinformation, racism, lack of resilience and education as well as stupidity.
Their common link was their juvenile link to Trump’s whiny
message; the big lie that he won. The GOP has no sense of honor nor embarrassment…they are doubling down, spinning this as Pelosi’s fault. But, then again, this is the new authoritarian party: spin the narrative for their weak base and they will follow their leader. These people love
authoritarianism…they can have someone think for them.
Those officers were the real deal, true Americans that protected our democracy. They stopped domestic terrorist from taking over our government when a fair election was being formally acknowledged by Congress. Anyone who demeans the testimony of these officers wouldn’t last 5 seconds with what these men went through.
The Terrorist …nothing but losers with Trump flags.
Who funded this? That is what will be exposed.
Charles Barranco says
Mr Dean,
Thank You covering the issues and being 100 % on point.
I’ve noticed that, The Detractor, is incapable of discussion and merely attempts to dazzle us with his superfluous babble.
Well Done, Esq!