Government Watch / Politics
The January 6 Committee Travesty
Posted Wednesday, November 16, 2022 Nov 16, 2022 | By Outside Contributor | 84 Comments 84
The Jan. 6 House committee just revealed how nakedly political it is. Forget protecting the nation. The committee's safeguarding the Democratic Party.
After conducting hundreds of depositions and closed-door hearings, committee staff were notified last week that most of their findings — about domestic extremist groups and about law enforcement's failure to protect the Capitol — will be excluded from the final report. All those investigations, paid for by taxpayers, are destined for the circular file. The committee's final report, due before the end of the year, will be about Donald Trump and nothing but Donald Trump.
A sensible decision, if the committee's only purpose is to cripple a possible future Republican presidential candidate. Trump's conduct that day was damning. But the committee's mandate was broader — to ensure that the process of electing a president, and the Capitol itself, would be inviolate no matter who runs.
The committee's decision unmasks the big lie that tilted the election. In the months before the midterms, President Joe Biden and his media allies pummeled Americans with warnings that the nation is threatened by soaring right-wing extremism. The New York Times called it the country's "top domestic terrorism threat," citing the Department of Homeland Security. Biden warned that the survival of democracy is on the ballot in the midterms.
Some 44% of voters bought into the hysteria, according to an Associated Press survey, and hesitated to vote Republican, despite concerns about record-high inflation, crime and an overall conviction that the nation is headed in the wrong direction.
How serious could the threat have been if, once the election is over, the Jan. 6 committee puts aside concerns about right-wing domestic extremism? It was a lie all along.
The FBI manipulated data to make it look like right-wing extremists threatened America, according to whistleblowers cited by a House Judiciary Committee minority report.
FBI data keepers, pressured by their bosses, reclassified incidents as domestic terrorism. They also took each one of the many hundreds of Capitol rioters arrested and made separate case files located in the local FBI offices near the rioters' residences, even though the cases were being handled by the Washington, D.C., bureau. According to whistleblowers, that created the illusion of a vast nationwide threat, instead of a single incident in D.C.
Democratic pols and the media ran with these FBI-inflated statistics.
The New York Times editorial board ginned up fear on Nov. 3, claiming "incidents of political violence in the United States by right-wing extremists have soared."
The Times struggled to incriminate right-wing Republicans for the despicable hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Times said the man accused in the crime "echoed their hatred of Nancy Pelosi," while at the same time conceding "it's not clear whether the man had links to any of them."
On Nov. 7, the Times warned that "the embrace of violent extremism by a small but growing faction of the Republican Party" puts democracy at stake.
Biden's FBI and other law enforcement agencies also heightened the fear, issuing alerts about election-related violence. They could cite no specifics. In fact, there were no incidents. Zero. The vaunted threat to democracy didn't materialize.
The nation has suffered from political violence. But it's inaccurate to claim it's a major threat or to blame only the Right. The bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies says that U.S. fatalities due to domestic political violence average 31 per year, a "relatively small" number. Nineteen deaths were linked to the two weeks of rioting following George Floyd's murder.
These death tolls pale beside the 25,000 homicides yearly in this country. Crime, and pro-crime policies favored by Democrats, are the real threats to our safety.
The Jan. 6 committee should do its job, providing undoctored data and an accurate perspective on how much of a threat political extremism is in this country.
Instead, the committee's putting aside two years of costly investigations, before the public sees the results, to spend the final weeks of Congress on a sideshow over whether Trump will testify.
What a travesty.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey.
Share This Article by Outside Contributor
Trump's conduct was damning? That's even worse than when you named Lis Cheney as an outstanding Republican woman. Makes me question who really is as the helm here, and your real intentions
January 6 Committee need to be investigated for hiding the truth while pointing at anyone. That planned "event" was for nothing more than to block a Constitutional procedure..polling of the States to certify an election. The "Swamp" at work.
Vilas Gamble
I just finished watching a documentary about the forming of the United States and the events that triggered the colonists to decide they wanted independence from Britain. It seemed that the center of their discontent, after King George kept piling more and more requirements on them, was eerily close to what we are seeing Democrats do to our country today. When 70% of the people believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction, and leading us down a road to socialism, is it any wonder there is unrest that to some on the left call extremism. The "extremists" who participated in the Boston Tea Party and all the other events that led to full blown revolution were called patriots and their fight was against tyranny. Much of what we see going on in our Constitutional Republic today, (not democracy) is not much different. Who is say they are not are not modern-day patriots? Surely the socialist Democrat Party is not in this category as they lead us further and further away from the ideals of why the American Revolution was fought.
Sgt Pops
Reply to Vilas Gamble
And while we're on this comment thread, how about we ask about the total lack of "due process" for those in the DC Gulag. Travesty piles upon travesty the same as prior to the American War for Independence, most call it the Revolutionary War. They tried then to cause the Homeland Patriots to fire the first shot, but the first shot came from the British. It really needs to be the same again. This old sergeant will patiently wait even though it's becoming very difficult.
Brahn
Dale Single
Maybe it is time to take Biden up on his rhetoric?
Walter L. Graham
Can you point to just what conduct you are referring to when you write "Trump's conduct that day was damning." I have not seen One thing that Trump did that the other side had not done worse many times over in the years since Trump Announced his run for the Presidential office!
Reply to Walter L. Graham
I'm glad you posted this as I felt the same way when I read that! I'm thinking, oh, no is AMAC going the way of aarp? Nothing Trump did that day was damning!
Bill on the Hill
Reply to Sandra Brown
That is a 100% accurate conclusion Sandra… DJT did NOTHING wrong on Jan. 6th, period… I too also picked up on that completely inaccurate sentence by the author…
Personally I think your take on Trump's behavior is incorrect. Damning is too harsh a term. He had every right to protest the results of that election.
Gabe Hanzeli
It is time to start holding media responsible for the lies they spread. the republicans need to sue the media for the defamation and claim it led to the midterm vote not being more in favor of republicans.
Anyone in their right mind knew that committee was a sham from the beginning.We had four good years with a real leader even though the house and senate tried for four years to take him down because he set their master plan back for four years then put in a puppet for OBuma and Clumpton!!????????????
mike morton
Liars lie.
Donald Trump did not facilitate the Capital incursion…the liars did it.
More importantly, the liars used the same statistical manipulation strategy to control the results of the 2022 election.
There are Repubocrats …and there are those who they manipulate.
We The People…are THE manipulated. Somnambulance is costing "we the people" our freedom.
There is no cavalry coming to save us. We are the calvary and we are ignoring the demise of our rights. When liars steal votes…they take them from the people.
Senators represent every American citizen. When we allow the Repubocrats to manipulate senatorial elections anywhere, they impact every member of "the people" everywhere in our country.
Fetterman represents EVERY ONE OF US.
David Capps
Trump's behavior was not damning on Jan.6th,that's RINO speak.
Take a look at what happened in the Wisconsin capitol building after Scott Walker won the "recall" election in 2012. If you can find the articles and pictures(which are being well hidden by Pravda) you will note THOUSANDS of "protestors" (soros paid agitators) inside the capitol, ALL OVER THE PLACE! Hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage was done to the capitol (that's taxpayer expense) and grounds, feces was found on floors in various room in the capitol, etc. Unlike the 2020 election to "anoint" the democrat/communist party with biden as their figure head in which MASSIVE cheating was committed; the Walker recall election was fair and square and Walker fended off the recall yet the protest took place and I dont remember republicans having all these "useful idiots" arrested and jailed at all!
WHY ISNT THIS POINTED OUT AND MADE AN ISSUE OF? Because the republican party has become a useless bunch of milquetoasts!! Like the whigs of yesteryear, they need to be replaced!!!!
Bill T
This shows exactly what the true intentions were from the second this so called insurrection occurred, the reality is this was a tragedy and these American citizens made a terrible and unfortunate decision ( and Ashley Babbit paid the ultimate price for her poor decision to enter our capital building) did she deserve to be shot dead unarmed and defenseless? And all the other unarmed citizens who are now in jail, losing everything because of an extremely poor decision. There paying dearly for the Jan 6th insurrection. I have my suspicions about the democrats decision to have only a few capital police enforcing our capital building especially when tensions were at a fever pitch that day. And why we're the police allowing them to enter freely into the building with no interference? This in my opinion is an extremely sad event but what is worse than all of this combined is the fact that these Marxist progressive democrats are using this as a weapon to assault our democracy and as a political advantage the democrats will use to advance there agenda. Knowing how the left strategizes everything it is only for there political gains and power over our constitution and our American citizens.As is everything else that these leftist democrats plan out on a daily basis.
Jocie Taylor
So let me get this straight anything that was supposed to be done by law is overlooked and anything that we can make Trump's fault we're going to zoom in on that way to go guys waste the text Tax paid dollars
Douglas Craig
Anyone who thought there was any goal other than discrediting GOP and Trump has not been AWAKE the last 6 yrs
What else would you expect from a Illegal and Unconstitutional committee that ABUSES those falsely accused.
Corrina Williams
When are those that perpetuate these lies and false stories going to be held accountable? Innocent people are being put in jail and I'm tired of my tax money being used to investigte their garbage. Maybe I should just stop paying taxes. How can Americans see the real truth?
heil biden
ALL THE TAX PAYER MONEY WASTED ON THIS FOLLEY SHOULD BE TAKEN FROM THE GOLDEN GOOSE PENSIONS OF THE DEMORAT PARTY
Reply to heil biden
That is a Golden idea heil biden…
Bill… :~)
Time to investigate the January 6th Committee for crimes
Reply to Chris
Harry Guzaliak
The costly investigation into the Russia hoax purported by none other than #44 and the FBI has never held anyone accountable for lying to the American people and trying to overthrow a presidential candidate and then actually the POTUS. Shame on us!
William Hodge
Free the hostages being held in the DC jails and allow them to sue the government for mistreatment.
Peggy P
Reply to William Hodge
I agree! and while we're at it, let's throw all the SwampScum in jail for being such liars to America citizens and wasting so much of our tax money. no bail … crappy living conditions … less than desirable food … no lawyer visits … etc. in short, dish out to the "elites" the exact same treatment that they dished out to the January 6th detainees … I can hear the crybabies now … "not fair … I'm innocent … AND BEST OF ALL : I DID NOT DO THAT!" and my response : ????????????????????
DEFINITELY!!! and have an all Republican (NO RINO'S) investigative team!
Reply to Peggy P
replace "republican" with conservative.
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