OPINION:
On Monday, Jan. 6, Congress will convene to certify the 2024 reelection of former President Donald Trump.
Jan. 6, 2025, marks the fourth anniversary of the Capitol riot that Democrats and their media still falsely portray as an “insurrection.”
Hundreds of Trump supporters gathered at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after Mr. Trump spoke to a crowd.
Among other things, he said: “Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will ‘stop the steal.’”
He urged them to protest Congress’ counting of Electoral College ballots. Here’s the part that the media often ignore: “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Many of the demonstrators went to the Capitol hoping to persuade Congress to review alleged evidence of vote fraud that several courts had declined to examine. For the same reason, some Republican lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to delay the vote.
Dozens of hotheads rioted, broke windows, attacked police and forced their way inside. Hundreds followed, many walking in peacefully, unimpeded by police. Then-Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson obtained video that showed many peaceful interactions between police and strolling protesters in the Capitol’s halls.
By contrast, the other media and the House Jan. 6 committee showed the same clips of violent footage day after day, a complete 180 from how the media treated the 2020 George Floyd riots.
The Jan. 6 breach delayed the count by a few hours, and Congress certified Joe Biden’s election as the 46th president.
In the maelstrom, at least 114 police officers were injured, according to a March 2022 General Accounting Office report. One Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt, was fatally shot by a Capitol police officer. Two other Trump supporters — Kevin Greeson and Benjamin Phillips — died of heart issues, and another, Rosanne Boyland, died from an accidental overdose of prescription medicine.
In the weeks that followed, several officers died, including Brian Sicknick, who The New York Times erroneously reported had been hit with a fire extinguisher.
Sicknick died from a blood clot on Jan. 7 after suffering two strokes, according to a medical examiner. He had been sprayed with a chemical irritant, but his death was ruled the result of natural causes.
Another Capitol Hill police officer, Howard Liebengood, killed himself on Jan. 10.
A week later, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith took his own life. He had been struck on the helmet by a metal pole and had been put on medical leave. He shot himself after being ordered back to work.
In July, more than six months after the riot, Metropolitan Police reported that two more officers who had been on Capitol Hill that day — Kyle DeFreytag and Gunther Hashida — had killed themselves.
DeFreytag had not confronted rioters and had been assigned to enforce a curfew. As for Hashida, “Authorities drew no connection between the riot and his death,” according to The Washington Post, as reported by FactCheck.org.
None of this is to minimize these deaths, or the gravity of the riot. The purpose here is to clarify how the media and leftist politicians lied about it and exploited it for their own purposes.
For instance, on Oct. 24, 2021, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, tweeted that Jan. 6 had been “a terror attack” resulting in “almost 10 dead.”
This past week in New Orleans and Las Vegas, we saw what real terror is.
Citing the “insurrection,” Attorney General Merrick Garland rounded up more than 1,300 people who had been at the Capitol. Many were imprisoned for years before facing trial, and some are facing harsh sentences. Using facial imagery technology, the FBI has been rounding up still more defendants.
By contrast, thousands who committed violence in 574 riots in 200 cities during the Floyd protests went scot-free. The Justice Department under Mr. Garland seemed more interested in arresting peaceful pro-lifers at abortion clinics and identifying traditionalist Catholics and parents who spoke up at school board meetings as potential “terrorists.”
Citing the alleged “insurrection,” Democrats in the House impeached Mr. Trump a second time and held the Jan. 6 committee hearings. A 128-page GOP House report released this past Dec. 17 exposed the charade as a Soviet-style show trial complete with alleged perjury and witness tampering.
Democratic judges in Oregon and Maine cited the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment to bar Mr. Trump from presidential primary ballots in 2024 before being slapped down by the Supreme Court.
Emboldened by the “insurrection” narrative, Democratic prosecutors in four jurisdictions brought spurious charges against Mr. Trump, hoping to keep him from being reelected.
Jan. 6, 2021, was the gift that kept on giving for the Democrats. At least they thought so until voters shocked them on Nov. 5. Let’s hope and pray that Monday’s Electoral College certification is conducted without any drama.
• Robert Knight is a columnist for The Washington Times. His website is roberthknight.com.
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