A Year after January 6, 2021
There are certain public events that I remember exactly where I was when they happened. These include the assassination of President John Kennedy, the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the landing on the moon by US astronauts, the National Guard shooting and killing student protestors at Kent State, the Marshall University plane crash, the Challenger disaster, the terrorist attacks of 9-11, the announcement by President Obama that we had killed Osama Bin Laden, and the Women's March on Washington. I now add to that list the violent attempt by Trump supporters to overthrow the US government on January 6, 2021. I watched in shock as Trump supporters attacked, injured, and killed capitol police members who were trying to protect the members of Congress who were fulfilling their constitutional duty of ratifying the 2020 presidential election results. I watched as the Trump supporters violently stormed the capitol. I listened to the chants to hang Vice President Pence. I watched in revulsion on that day as the Nazi and Confederate flags were proudly carried into our Capitol and displayed by Trump supporters. The next day I watched as Republican after Republican, many of Trump’s most ardent supporters, publicly placed the blame or at least some of the blame for the violent insurrection directly on him. I wrote a brief commentary (see my blog) on January 7 of last year in which I noted all the various right-wing militias and hate groups that I had seen as I moved from channel to channel on television trying to find out what was happening on that fateful day.
We now know that this was just one part of a plan put in place by President Trump and his supporters in an attempt to change the legitimate outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Prior to the election, President Trump laid the groundwork for his efforts by stating time and time again that the only way he could lose the election was if it were fraudulent. He lost. He and his Republican supporters, including Fox News, began to promote the Big Lie. President Trump and his supporters brought more than 60 legal challenges to the election. All were dismissed in both state and federal courts due to a lack of evidence. Several Trump lawyers have been sanctioned and/or disbarred for bringing these frivolous law suits to court. President Trump tried to pressure Attorney General William Barr to investigate so-called voter fraud. Barr, a close ally of Trump, refused and stated publicly that there was no voter fraud in the election. We listened to the phone call in which Trump bullied Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, in an attempt to find more votes in his favor to change the election result. Raffensperger refused. Several battleground states had several official and non-official recounts of the vote. The recounts neither changed the original outcome nor found any examples of fraud.
We know that phony certificates of ascertainment were submitted to Congress and the National Archives from Trump-Republicans in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, and New Mexico. These false documents listed the Republican electors from each of these states as the “official” electors that should be voting in the Electoral College vote on December 14. Legal proceedings against those in Arizona who submitted the false documents have begun. Others will follow.
We know that President Trump and his closest supporters tried to persuade Vice President Pence to not recognize the electors from certain key states on January 6. This was made clear in two memos, one by John Eastman and another by Jenna Ellis, which circulated within the Trump inner circle that outlined steps as to how Pence could turn the election to Trump. Fortunately, the Vice President refused to act in such an illegal manner despite a last minute efforts by the President prior to January 6.
We are learning more each day from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the House of Representatives Bipartisan January 6th Investigative Committee. We know that more than 700 individuals have been charged as of this date by DOJ. At least forty individuals have been charged with conspiracy; 225 with assault and/or resisting or impeding officers; 75 with the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon; and at least 640 with misdemeanor charges. More than 165 have plead guilty to the charges and at least 70 have been found guilty in court. These legal actions will continue for years. We know the violence on January 6th was organized. Eleven members of the Oath Keepers have been charged with the very serious crime of seditious conspiracy by the Department of Justice. It is clear that the Department of Justice is “going up the food chain” in its actions against those responsible for the violent insurrection.
While much of the work of the Bi-partisan January 6th Investigative Committee hasn’t been made public yet and many of the Trump-Republican supporters are defying the committee’s requests or subpoenas to appear, it is important that we find out who did what, when, how, and why and take action. Individuals must be held accountable. We must know the role that was played by the President and his inner circle in the insurrection. We know that several key Republican representatives and Senators, the President’s son, the President's daughter, as well as Fox News Anchors had conversations with the President while the violent insurrection was taking place. We know that all urged him to take action to stop the violence, which he failed to do for several hours. The work of the House of Representatives Bipartisan January 6th Investigative Committee is extremely important, just as important, if not more so, as the committee that investigated the events associated with 9-11. The public must know.
At the same time the insurrection continues via the many voter restriction and suppression laws being passed by Trump-Republican led states. It is important to act if you believe in the right to vote. Write your member of Congress, your US Senators, your Governor, and your state representatives. Find, join, and participate in a local activist group that is trying to protect an individual’s right to vote. Be informed. On this Martin Luther King Day I am reminded of one of his quotes that is relevant to the voter suppression laws that are being passed, “Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice, and when they fail in that purpose, they become the dangerously structural dams that block the flow of social justice.”
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