Officer Fanone asked the question during Tuesday’s January 6th Select Committee hearing upon which our democracy hangs: Fanone charged the Committee with investigating the former president and whether or not there was collaboration between members of Congress and the Senate, their staff, and the terrorists.
Officer Hodges concurred: “I need you guys to address whether anyone in power had a role in this. If anyone in power aided and abetted.â€
During the first day of the hearing of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Chairman Bennie G. Thompson asked Officer Fanone what he wants to see from the committee and the Officer responded that he wants to know whether any members of Congress or the former president collaborated with the terrorists.
Officer Fanone asks the 1/6 Committee to investigate potential collaboration between House members, their staffs, and the domestic terrorists who attacked the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/qyxp54ruks
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— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) July 27, 2021
I guess it is interesting from a law enforcement viewpoint. We had violent political rhetoric. We had the organization of a rally, whose title was “Stop the Steal,” and that that rally occurred on January 6th – which I don’t believe was a coincidence that on January 6th, members of Congress and you here in the room today were charged with tallying the electoral votes and certifying the election of our president.
And in the academy, we learn about time, place, circumstance in investigating potential crimes and those who may have committed them. So the time, the place and circumstances of that rally, that rhetoric, and those events to me leads in the direction of our president and other members not only of congress and the senate but that is what I am looking for is an investigation into those actions and activities which may have resulted in the events of January 6th and also whether or not there was collaboration between those members, their staff, and these terrorists.
There it is. This is the reason Republicans are trying so desperately to deflect, distract, deny and lie about the events of January 6th and the House-led investigation of this horrific crime.
The Chairman opened the hearing by reminding everyone about the violent attack and committing to being guided by facts. “We know that the insurrection on January 6th was a violent attack that involved vicious assaults on law enforcement. We know there is evidence it was a coordinated, planned attack. We know that men and women who stormed the Capitol wanted to derail the peaceful transfer of power in this country. We know that seven people lost their lives, that more than 140 police officers suffered injuries. We know that efforts to subvert our democracy are ongoing, and a major part of the Select Committee’s work will be to find ways to eliminate that threat.
We also know that the rioters came dangerously close to succeeding. If not for the heroism of the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department, many more lives might have been lost. And the rioters could have accomplished what they set out to do: upend American democracy.”
Thompson noted that the peaceful transfer of power is a pillar of our democracy, adding “…a peaceful transfer of power didn’t happen this year. It did not happen. Let that sink in. Think about it.”
After showing a video of what the witnesses (officers) saw that day, Thompson said, “He’ll be back, he warns us. It’s just chilling. I thank God for our democracy—and our Republic—withstood the assault. But that man’s warning reminds us that this threat hasn’t gone away. It looms over our democracy like a dark cloud.”
He called out Republicans on trying to turn terrorists into martyrs, “Some people are trying to deny what happened. To whitewash it. To turn the insurrectionists into martyrs. But the whole world saw the reality of what happened on January 6th. The hangman’s gallows sitting out there on our Nation’s Mall.”
Chairman Thompson has been the chair of the Committee on Homeland Security since 2019 and again from 2007 to 2011. When he warns that the Trump threat to our democracy hasn’t gone away, his words carry the weight of an expert on domestic security. This is the reason he is the Chair of this essential committee.
Emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a contributing editor for the Atlantic Norm Ornstein added over Officer Fanone’s request, “They need to deploy the full panoply of resources and Powers available to Congress to do this, including inherent contempt, center and expulsion and prosecution through the justice department.”
Officers Fanone and Hodges asked the Select Committee to investigate what every patriot in this country is desperate to understand: Which, if any, powerful figures in the Republican Party coordinated with the terrorists. This is not only the most important question for justice, but also to protect the homeland from another Trump terrorist attack.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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