ICYMI, House Speaker Mike Johnson released thousands of hours of video from the January 6 insurrection to supposedly reveal the ‘truth’ about what happened that day. As The NY Times reported 11/23/23, Johnson’s Release of Jan. 6 Video Feeds Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories - The speaker fulfilled a demand of the far right, which has sought thousands of hours of footage to try to rewrite the history of the Capitol attack.
(Quick question for the Times — are they still “far right” if they are in the driver’s seat of the GOP and no longer so distant from power? But I digress.)
Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to publicly release thousands of hours of Capitol security footage from Jan. 6, 2021, has fueled a renewed effort by Republican lawmakers and far-right activists to rewrite the history of the attack that day and exonerate the pro-Trump rioters who took part.
Mr. Johnson’s move last week to make the footage available — something the far right has long demanded — came as he tried to allay the anger of hard-line Republican lawmakers for working with Democrats to keep the government funded. Now, some of the same people who were irate about that decision are using the Jan. 6 video to circulate an array of false claims and conspiracy theories about the largest attack on the Capitol in centuries.
It’s an article of faith on the right these days — the people who invaded the Capitol and engaged in violence were A) merely innocent “Freedom Tourists”, B) those arrested are victims of Deep State persecution as political prisoners, and C) all the violence was perpetrated by FBI agents and others in a false flag operation, D) that was part of the whole plan by Biden and the Democrats to steal the election from Donald Trump.
Speaking of the Former Guy:
Attempting to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has been central to former Mr. Trump’s campaign to reclaim the White House. He has used footage from the Capitol riot at his rallies, suggesting the mob violence was patriotic, and recorded a song with Jan. 6 rioters held in jail.
“Congratulations to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for having the courage and fortitude to release all of the J6 tapes, which will reveal completely what really happened on January 6,” Mr. Trump said in a video release on Tuesday.
So, imagine my surprise when my Facebook feed decided its algorithms had detected an interest on my part in seeing a fundraising ad from one Chuck Hand. He is apparently running for Congress from Georgia on the basis that he’s a political prisoner seeking the ‘real’ truth about what happened on January 6. I’ve taken a bunch of screen caps so you can see his post without giving him any clicks. Here’s the Facebook ad for Hand’s campaign:
Point of interest — there were no comments visible on his post when I first checked it out. When I chose to see all comments instead of “most relevant”, a bunch appeared — nearly all of them strongly negative. Funny how that works.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a bit more info on Hand and his wife, shown in the picture. From January 13, 2023, Georgia GOP county chair sentenced in Jan. 6 charge
When Taylor County Republican Party Chairwoman Mandy Robinson-Hand emerged from the U.S. Capitol amid the noise and smoke of the Jan. 6 riot, she began texting friends and family that she and her husband, Charles Hand III, were “rebels.”
“Dude im (sic) in a war,” she wrote, according to court records.
emphasis added
The rest is behind a paywall, alas — but 11Alive has an earlier report from March 11-12, 2022 with more photos, a video clip, and a Facebook post from Hand, all about taking the country back. It also has what they were charged with:
The DOJ complaints about Hand and Hand Robinson are:
- Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds
- Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds
- Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building
- Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building
Clicking on the Facebook ad brings up this:
In case you were wondering, Graham Allen “is an Army veteran and successful entrepreneur hailing from rural Mississippi. He's known as one of the Top 50 conservative voices in America….Graham hosts Dear America, one of the fastest-growing podcasts in the country. As a contributor for Turning Point Faith, Graham travels across the nation advocating on behalf of faith, family and freedom.”
(More about Turning Point USA here.)
Hand is, of course, asking for money to fund his campaign.
A free sticker for $25? What a deal. Also note the “$17.76” suggested contribution. I’m a little surprised he doesn’t have one for $18.61. The contributions are being made through WinRed. And no, contributions are NOT tax-deductible.
So, although the Republican Party has not held its national convention yet or settled on a party platform, I think it can be taken as a given that the Party will be running on claims along the lines Hand is making, even if Trump isn’t at the top of the ticket.
But shall we talk about other people from January 6 whose claims are grounded in something closer to reality?
Charlie Pierce has the rest of the story
From 11/28/23: The Case of the Missing Lawsuits
Several Capitol Police officers and Rep. Eric Swalwell sued Trump and his minions for their role in the insurrection, but the ruling has mysteriously vanished in the judges' chambers.
Politico had a fascinating piece on the strange circumstances surrounding forgotten lawsuits. A year ago, the federal Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit agreed to hear lawsuits from several Capitol Police officers — and one from Rep. Eric Swalwell — against the former president* and his minions, holding them legally responsible for injuries and damage done during the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol. And, contrary to everyone's expectations, the case seems to have vanished in the judges' chambers.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals typically decides cases within four months of oral arguments, but the trio of Trump lawsuits has been sitting on the court’s docket with no ruling since they were argued last December. “I am surprised how long it’s taking. The delay does seem unusual, but I’m hopeful we’ll get a decision,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who filed one of the three lawsuits two months after the Jan. 6 attack.
What’s the holdup?
A three-judge panel of the appeals court is mulling a thorny constitutional question that hangs over each of the cases: whether Trump can be sued over his speech to an angry crowd on Jan. 6, 2021, just before the deadly riot at the Capitol. Since the panel considered whether Trump has immunity, Trump has surged to the front of the GOP presidential primary pack and been charged criminally twice for his efforts to subvert the 2020 election. The D.C. Circuit’s long-awaited ruling — or its likely appeal to the Supreme Court — may either bolster or weaken both of those criminal cases. That’s because Trump is raising similar immunity defenses in his criminal prosecutions. Whatever the higher courts say about the scope of presidential immunity in the civil context will set an important precedent for the trial judges who will soon need to resolve Trump’s efforts to toss out his criminal charges on immunity grounds.
This has been going on for three years now, as the cases make their way through the appeals courts and judges wrestle with whether or not Trump has immunity — given how it would affect the criminal cases against him.
Pierce:
If I had to guess, I'd say there is some serious paralysis-by-analysis going on here. The judges inclined to uphold the lawsuit don't want to go out in that perilous limb although all their legal reasoning tells them they should. It's more than merely fear of the MAGA hordes. It's the genuine reluctance of many jurists to make landmark rulings. It takes a considerable ensemble set of judicial cojones to decide on monumental change. And, as Politico points out, a decision in these derelict cases bears a great deal on the former president*'s claims of presidential immunity in his various criminal trials.
Some of that reluctance is understandable. And the MAGA threat is very real. But, after a while, hey, that's why you get the lifetime appointment. Do your jobs.
Speaking of landmark rulings, imagine where we’d be if the judges who have been trying January 6 cases included in the sentences being handed down that convicted defendants fall under Article 3 of the 14th Amendment, and are barred from ever running for political office. What it would mean for Trump is obvious — and likely why judges would be even more reluctant to address it, as we’ve seen in the challenges brought against his campaign to date.
As far as I can determine, there is no formal process to issue such a ruling — it is supposed to be self-executing. It would be interesting if prosecutors in their arguments regarding sentencing included that sanction. A law that is never enforced is no law at all — but I think we can take it as a given that Republicans would jump on it in a heartbeat if the situation was reversed.