In addition to the riveting, highly disturbing testimony of the four Capitol and D.C. police officers recounting their personal experiences defending the Capitol against the Trump-incited terrorist mob, Tuesday's hearing before the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks included some harrowing video from some the officers’ body cameras. Some of that video had been previously disclosed but some appeared never to have been displayed before. The video clips played by the committee made it abundantly clear that had these people managed to reach them, many members of the Senate and House, and probably some members of their staffs, would now be dead.
D.C. Police officer Michael Fanone’s bodycam footage is linked below. His testimony after viewing it durin Tuesday’s hearing follows the footage.
This bodycam footage as well as much of the video already available to the public leads to the inescapable conclusion that these people were fully intent — and in fact had fully prepared — to kill members of the U.S. government. Other, previously released video depicting the terrorists warning police to “prepare to die today,” and shouting “where the fuck are they?” upon entering the building supports this conclusion as well.
“Terrorists” was the word the officers used unsparingly and frequently in describing the violent mob. Metropolitan police officer Daniel Hodges explained why that term is appropriate in describing the perpetrators of the Jan. 6 insurrection. As reported by Politico, Hodges came prepared to defend his use of that word:
“I can see why someone would take issue with the title of terrorist. It's gained a lot of notoriety in our vocabulary in the past few decades, and we'd like to believe that no, that couldn't happen here. No domestic terrorism. No homegrown threats," Hodges said.
"But I came prepared," he continued. "U.S. Code title 18, part 1, chapter 113b, as in brown, section 2331: The term domestic terrorism means activities that involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any state and, B, appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping and occur primarily during the territorial jurisdiction of the United States."
Officer Fanone echoed his fellow officer in describing the insurrectionists as "terrorists."
It’s understandable why House Republicans attempted to stage “counter-events” in order to distract from Tuesday’s hearings. As time has passed and people’s memories have faded, it becomes easier for Republicans to attempt a re-write of history, in order to re-fashion the public’s memory of what most saw for themselves on their TV screens nearly seven months ago. Some current members of Congress now have a vested interest with their constituents — many of whom have been brainwashed into believing the election was “stolen” -- in recasting the motives of those who perpetrated this crime as somehow less treacherous, less violent and less deserving of condemnation and prosecution.
Those efforts took a severe hit today. In fact, if anything was clarified in today’s hearing about these people, it is that the relatively mild sentences being meted out to some of those arrested for their actions on Jan. 6 are not severe enough. As Officers Hodges and Fanone made clear, these were the actions of full-fledged terrorists, collectively bent on overthrowing the government of the United States through premeditated acts of violence. Those who support their actions or try to justify them are aiding and supporting terrorism, pure and simple.
All in the media need to follow the officers’ lead here and call the perpetrators of the Jan. 6 insurrection exactly what they are.
Terrorists.