The Capitol riot on January 6th is justly compared to Germany’s 1933 Reichstag fire, not in terms of the actual damage done, but by the cloud of unhinged hysteria it has unleashed.
The American left are Chicken-Little screeching that it was an “insurrection” and “attempted coup” and are calling for everything up to and including summary execution for anyone allegedly involved. The right, on the other hand are denying that it had anything to do with them, declaring that the whole thing was a false flag staged by Antifa and designed to usher in an era of tyranny.
Both claims have only the most tangential attachment to reality.
As journalist Tim Poole has said, it is clear that the fracas was almost entirely a demonstration that got out of hand and that most of the people who “invaded” the Capitol building were otherwise well-behaved and probably – seeing as guards let down barricades and opened doors – under the impression that they were legitimately touring the building.
But that doesn’t mean that it was completely unplanned – and the evidence that a handful of bad actors were determined to provoke a confrontation that day is devastating to the Democrats’ opportunistic, indefensible impeachment charge against Donald Trump.
Leaving aside the constitutionality of trying to impeach a private citizen, the “incitement” claim is clearly ludicrous by any fair reading of Trump’s speech that day. Not only does Trump not encourage any crime at all, he explicitly enjoins the crowd to abide by the law and “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”.
But new revelations that a handful of provocateurs actually planned to disrupt the event well in advance – and that the FBI knew and did nothing – torpedoes the “incitement” fiction, once and for all.
Days before former President Trump’s impeachment trial begins, newly filed federal charges against anti-government activists offer fresh, compelling evidence that the accused perpetrators of the Capitol riots pre-planned their attack days and weeks in advance and in plain sight of an FBI that vowed to be vigilant to extremist threats[…]
That growing body of evidence raises questions about whether the FBI and other security agencies acted proactively enough to thwart the violence. It also undercuts the House Democrats’ impeachment claim — supported by 10 Republicans — that Trump’s speech spontaneously incited the riots, legal experts told Just the News.
The Democrats’ case is falling apart on all fronts.
“[House lawmakers] made a huge, colossal blunder,” said [Kenneth] Starr, who was a member of the defense team for Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial. “So walk back, and apologize to the former president, apologize to the American people that I never should have voted in favor of this without the benefit of all the facts. I rushed to judgment”[…]
George Washington University legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a Democrat who has defended Trump on impeachment issues, argued[…]The remarks of Trump last month would not satisfy the test in [landmark free speech case Brandenburg v. Ohio] when the Supreme Court said ‘advocacy of the use of force or of law violation’ is protected unless it is imminent. Trump did not call for use of force. He told supporters to go ‘peacefully’ and to ‘cheer on’ his allies in Congress.”
But it’s the FBI’s own evidence that is most damaging to the “incitement” claims – and to the FBI itself.
One of the cases in which the FBI has detailed the most extensive pre-planning involves the conspiracy charges against Thomas Edward Caldwell, Donovan Ray Crowl, and Jessica Marie Watkins[…]
The FBI alleges intercepted audio from the Jan. 6 attacks shows the three discussing sticking to a plan.
“We have a good group,” Watkins is quoted saying in one of the transmissions. “We have about 30-40 of us. We are sticking together and sticking to the plan.”
The affidavit also cites a pre-riot meeting at a northern Virginia hotel.
Just the News
So, the evidence is becoming clear that the FBI were well aware of what these people were planning – and did nothing.
It should be noted that Caldwell, Crowl and Watkins are members of the Oath Keepers militia group. The right’s argument that the affray was entirely due to left-wing provocateurs is ludicrous – but also not entirely false. There were agitators from the left clearly provoking some of the worst violence. But right-wing groups also have much to answer for.
As do the authorities. As the Democrats rush to exploit their Reichstag fire moment in the worst possible ways, it’s beginning to look a lot like the Swamp sat back and let what they knew was planned, happen unimpeded – thus providing a fig-leaf for the left’s opportunistic tyranny.
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