Commentary

By now, regular readers know how strongly I feel about demanding accountability for wrongdoing.  On a number of occasions, I have written about individuals who have eluded charges, not because they are not culpable, but primarily because of who they are or who they represent.

Now, with the House January 6 Committee’s partisan investigation complete, it is asking the Department of Justice to consider prosecution of former President Trump on four criminal charges, including “inciting or assisting an insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to make false statements to investigators and conspiracy to defraud the US government.”

It’s one thing for accountability to be sought in a legal process, but another when it is the product of an unconstitutionally organized committee with a seven-year vendetta against the subject of their investigation with full knowledge that such referrals are non-binding and generally dismissed by the Justice Department.

When I read that the committee believed that Trump intended to disrupt the transition of power, something it has not come close to proving, I was reminded of another charge involving intent.

It was on July 6, 2016 that then FBI Director James Comey declined to bring charges against Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information because proof of intent was lacking, despite comments that she was “extremely careless.”

The Justice Department has its own investigation underway with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was brought onboard to investigate the sensitive documents that Trump is said to have had at Mar-a-Lago, with a likely ability to broaden the scope of his work.  It will be interesting if he is able to prove intent.

Appearing on ABC News, RINO Adam Kinzinger of Illinois is seemingly aware that the committee’s referrals are going nowhere. “The criminal referrals themselves aren’t necessarily something that is going to wake DOJ up to something they didn’t know before,” he said, “but I do think it will be an important, symbolic thing that the committee can do.

Two years of investigation and reportedly 1,200 interviews, all for symbology? Really?

RINO Liz Cheney has repeatedly stated that Trump should never be allowed to “serve in any position of authority in our nation again,” adding, ”He is unfit for any office.”  

Of her repetitive charge, Attorney Jonathan Turley, a Democrat, wrote of the committee’s failure to offer new evidence with Cheney reminding him of an actor refusing to leave the stage long after the audience departed.

No matter.  MSNBC is probably prepared to pick up her option.

Similarly, Turley mocked Rep. Adam Schiff who again failed to reveal the bombshell evidence of criminal conspiracy by Trump.

The One-Sided Investigation

I find it interesting that no criminal charges were pursued against U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, who carelessly killed Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt for fear of his life even though she had no weapon and was surrounded at the door, she was attempting to breach, by at least six armed SWAT team members.  The video footage is clear and alarming.

While there were stories of multiple law enforcement deaths on January 6, they were untrue.  The only death was Babbitt’s.

Someone who eluded questioning about the lack of security around the Capitol  on January 6 by the Committee is Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who directly oversees the U.S. Capitol Police.  Rep. James Banks, who will head the new GOP House Oversight Committee has suggested that she was responsible for the “breakdown” in security. 

Unlike Pelosi’s committee, Banks’ committee will be open freely to Democrat participation.

At least a thousand National Guardsmen were available for use at the Capitol, but not summoned because of the optics it would present around the world. In question, also, are some 14,000 hours of Capitol Police surveillance footage, showing guards permitting protestor entry,

While the Justice Department arrested some 800 protestors, not one has been charged with “insurrection” or “sedition,” two charges Pelosi carelessly flouts. President Biden and former President George W. Bush both cited insurrection.

Pelosi also insulted Republican House members, referring to them as the “enemy within.”

Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, who objected Florida electoral votes in 2017, was in his glory all through the January 6 Committee deliberations on Trump’s vote denial, having been behind two prior unsuccessful Trump impeachments.

In Closing

Although he was only an observer of the January 6 hearings, perhaps Jonathan Turley gave the best closing statement:

“The fact is that the J6 Committee failed to change many minds largely because of what was on display in the final public meeting.  It was the same highly-scripted, one-sided account repeated mantra-like for months.

“There is justifiable anger over those accounts, but this hearing was billed as presenting the case for criminal charges.  It missed that mark by a considerable measure.”

While Portland Burned

Much has been written in conservative media how rioting in Democrat-controlled cities like Portland, Oregon, Seattle and Minneapolis was virtually ignored while the January 6 Committee investigated the riot on the “People’s House.”

While preliminary damages to the U.S. Capitol were estimated at some $30 million, by April that figure was reduced to just $1.5 million.

Meanwhile, Federal buildings in Portland, including the Sen. Mark Hatfield Courthouse, suffered $2.3 million in damages in a city that suffered nearly $30 million in damages.

Total riot damages across the country – not attributed to former President Trump, but tied to Black Lives Matter – neared $1 billion.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.