January 6th: A Retrospective
Unraveling one of the most misconstrued current events of our time
Well, we made it this time, haha. Congress has counted and certified the votes of the Electoral College. President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance will officially be sworn in as our 47th President and 50th Vice President, respectively, of the United States. Of course, I am sure there were a couple of us out there feeling anxious; worried that the nation would witness more unrest at the Capitol Building.
The events that took place in Washington, D.C. four years ago were undoubtedly not Right-Wing America’s finest hour. When the riot first broke out, I along with a large, universal consensus of Trump Supporters, shared views that day: I was shocked, confused, disgusted, embarrassed, disappointed, and let down. I thought that it would have been a permanent blemish on not just President Trump, but on the 75+ million American citizens that indirectly “allowed” this to happen following the 2020 election—the first election in which I ever casted my vote.
I thought for sure that day would have served as a stain that would have destroyed all of the momentum this beautiful movement has built for the last six years (really, since 2015). Yet here we are, four years to the day of the incident, and Donald Trump is weeks away from reclaiming the position as the Leader of the Free World, once again.
We must ask ourselves—how is this even possible? How on earth could the American people possibly have the ability to just move on and give Trump and the MAGA Movement this second chance like it was all no big deal?
Well, I will tell you exactly: Because it was just exactly that! No big deal!! As the years have gone on, it has proven more and more for that to be the sentiment of many Americans. With that said, I want to be very clear with what I am addressing: I unequivocally condemn the violent acts that took place that day at the Capitol Building, and I will always condemn political violence in any shape or form.
With that in mind, what happened that day in Washington, D.C., along with all of the additional evidence that has been made public since then, has proven to me that the events of that day have been WILDLY blown out of proportion….on so many levels.
Allow me to break it down as for why that is the case.
What do we call that day—like actually?
From the jump, Democrats, Joe Biden, and the Leftist Media–Industrial Complex have been describing the events of January 6th by one term, and one term only: Insurrection.
Promoting that was a cornerstone of their 2024 election campaign:
That was the Democrat’s grounds for charging President Trump in the Articles of his Second Impeachment trial: Incitement of Insurrection. Sounds pretty straightforward right? Well not quite.
There are two elements to committing this crime: 1) Incitement, and 2) Insurrection. Next we have to acknowledge that these are objective terms, with codified definitions under Federal Law:
“Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”
There is also a Federal Law regarding something called “Seditious Conspiracy”, which some people thought Trump might have been guilty of breaking as well:
“ If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.”
There is a reason why President Trump was acquitted by the Senate for the insurrection charges—As well as a reason why Jack Smith never indicted Trump with insurrection or sedition charges. In simplest terms, there was no evidence of such crimes!!
The agreed upon definition of “incite” under criminal law is to, “…instigate or to persuade another to commit a crime,” (Wex 2024). This precedent set forth by the Brandenburg Test, which outlines how to classify prohibited speech that advocates for criminal behavior; as recognized by the landmark case of Brandenburg v. Ohio:
The speech is “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action,”
The speech is “likely to incite or produce such action.”
When you read the actual transcript of Trump’s exact words in his address at the Save America rally, there was one true direct command he made in his entire speech:
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard today.”
— Donald J. Trump (1st Term) https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/34734
Of course, many of Trump’s opposition still blame him for other comments he made in his speech, particularly the infamous “fight like hell” comment. However, there are two main problems with this criticism: One, the phrase with or without its full context is highly subjective, lacking any evidence he was encouraging violence. Two, when added to the context, it is nowhere NEAR as problematic as the Left made it out to be.
Here is the full quote:
“Our brightest days are before us. Our greatest achievements still wait. I think one of our great achievements will be election security because nobody until I came along had any idea how corrupt our elections were, and again most people would stand there at 9 o'clock in the evening and say I want to thank you very much, and they go off to some other life, but I said something is wrong here, something is really wrong, can't have happened and we fight, we fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore.”
So, interpret the full quote as you wish, but the fact it is open-ended proves how it is not the damning evidence people made it out to be.
With all of this said, what do we actually classify it as? Well, the best classification that best describes what happened at the Capitol Building was—a riot. Which, under legal terms is defined as: “...a public disturbance where three or more people behave in a violent and uncontrolled manner…made in furtherance of an express common purpose; through the use or threat of violence, disorder, or terror to the public; and resulting in a disturbance of the peace.”
Now that we have established terminology for what this day really was, we must ask ourselves the next two most important questions: When did the riot officially start? If it’s not Trump, then who is to blame for it?
Who Really Ruined That Day
To understand what actually happened by the minute, we need to lay out the timeline at the time of the Save America address:
12:00PM → Trump begins speech
12:40 PM → Violent protestors arrived at the Capitol
01:09 PM → Conditions were poor and efforts were made to call in the National Guard.
01:11 PM → Trump concludes his speech.
01:50 PM → Capitol was breached, prior to already being attacked for ~ 1 hr.
01:56 PM → Earliest that Trump speech attendees could arrive at the Capitol. (There's a 45-minute walk between Trump's speech location and the Capitol)
Source: Upward News, FactCheck.Org, Just the News
This timeline refutes the narrative that Trump directly commanded the crowd of his supporters to storm the Capitol Building. We also know that not only was this not Trump’s fault, but it was also not any public high profile figure’s fault. How do we know that? Because they have been exonerated of such claims.
In an exclusive report published by Reuters on August 20, 2021, an internal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) found scant evidence that the United States Capitol ‘attack’ was coordinated through centralized means. It is clear that when it came to events that spiraled on January 6th, it was due to extrinsic factors through various false actors.
To that point, while we do not have an exact number confirmed, we do have evidence that there were participants in the crowd with the specific motive of compromising what was intended to be a peaceful protest to stand in solidarity with President Trump and the Representatives objecting to the certification of the Electoral College votes. There is confirmed footage of various agitators (most likely Antifa) caught changing their clothes and putting on M.A.G.A. apparel.
One particular false actor known to be in the crowd was none other than John Sullivan, a Left-Wing extremist and Black Lives Matter/Antifa activist, who posed as a Trump supporter with the specific intention of turning the peaceful rally on January 6th into a violent riot. We are only aware of this information thanks to the investigative journalism at The Gateway Pundit and National Pulse; where the former confirmed Sullivan openly bragged about posing as a Trump Supporter, and the latter revealed via Discord chat logs that Sullivan and his followers were purposely going to turn the Save America rally into a violent unrest. Fortunately, the Justice Department quickly charged and filed a criminal complaint against Sullivan. Then finally, after over three years since the riot, John Sullivan was found guilty of his crimes and was sentenced to 6 years in Federal prison.
Next you have other individuals like Ray Epps, who is an even more puzzling character to analyze. Not necessarily because of his own action, but because of the Federal response to his actions. Between January 5th and 6th of 2021, Mr. Epps is visibly documented on five total occasions in Washington, D.C. On those five recorded appearances, he is openly making direct commands to incite violence into the Capitol building. At least, that is how I interpreted his comments. I will let you, the reader, leave that interpretation to you.
Of the five instances caught on video, none of them are more damning proof that he committed incitement than footage from the first one. That recording occurred on the night before the Capitol Riot on January 5th. In footage captured from an almost 5-hour long live stream, he was seen interacting with Trump supporters. It was at the time stamp of 02:47:55 where Epps and the Trump supporters had the following interaction:
EPPS: Guys I’m not saying—You know what? I know what we’ve been doing hasn’t worked. Yeah. So, Imma (sic) put it out there. I’m probably gonna go to jail for it okay? Tomorrow, we need to go into the Capitol!! Into the Capitol!!!
TRUMP SUPPORTER 1: What!!???
TRUMP SUPPORTER 2: Nooooooo!!! Noooooo!!!!
SURROUNDING TRUMP SUPPORTERS: Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed!
Ray Epps’ comments, which were caught on that livestream, proved two things: 1) Epps is the only person who is recorded calling for direct incitement of violence at the Capitol, and 2) actual Trump Supporters never wanted there to be civil unrest. You would think that would have been enough for the authorities to hold him accountable like the rest of the J6 defendants, right? Well, surprise, surprise, not at all.
For some odd reason, there were numerous instances of high profile groups who jumped at the opportunity to DEFEND Ray Epps. Depicting him as a victim of “political persecution”, being perpetuated by the M.A.G.A. community. First, you had the New York Times referring to him and his treatment by Conservatives as a “Downfall as the Target” of a supposed pro-Trump conspiracy. Then, you had actual members of Congress, like Jamie Raskin (D-MD)—who was a chairman on the J6 Select Committee—go on record ranting and defending Epps!
It was not until September 18th of 2023 until Epps was finally indicted for his crimes…except not for inciting a riot. It was for charges of “Disorderly or Disruptive Conduct”. I repeat: DISORDERLY OR DISRUPTIVE CONDUCT!!! See the criminal complaint for yourself, it's ridiculous!!!
Then, there are so many unanswered questions regarding the role of the Capitol Police Officers. Leaked footage from all the way back in May of 2021, courtesy of American Greatness’ reporting, shows Capitol police letting people into the building on January 6th. They were willing to work with them and let them gather peacefully. In this short clip, Capitol Police officer Keith Robishaw warns protesters—including "Q shaman" Jacob Chansley—inside the Capitol Building on January 6 against using violence. Chansley and another protester are then seen instructing other protesters to be nonviolent as they exercise their right to assemble. (Link to the direct video can be found here). Further footage was released in January of 2022 by citizen journalist Brendan Gutenschwager, a.k.a., “BG on the Scene”, via a court order, showing Trump supporters chatting and shaking hands with police, as some continue to enter and exit the Capital through broken windows and a door that had been forced open earlier that afternoon. This footage clearly downplays the narrative about what really happened inside.
Even if Ray Epps was charged with the proper crimes, or even if it was someone other than Epps, it makes zero sense for there not to have been stricter law enforcement to help maintain the peace from spiraling. For a peaceful assembly of the size of the Save America rally, you would expect to see an organization like the National Guard to step in to provide crowd control. Where were they in all of this??
The Need for the National Guard
To understand the critical information regarding the absence of the National Guard in Washington, D.C. is, in my opinion, the most important piece of information needed to seek the actual truth regarding the events of January 6th, 2020. The claim we have heard for the longest time has been that Save America would turn violent, Trump knew in advance it would be violent, so he refused extra enforcement to let the violence unfold. This cannot be further from the truth. It took a long time for the evidence to be revealed to the public, but now we know what actually occurred.
The only verified fact we knew immediately following January 6th was this: Originally on December 31st, 2020, Mayor Muriel Bowser sent a letter to then Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy requesting the D.C. National Guard (DCNG) to assist in protection of the demonstrations for the 6th. However, she released a public letter on January 5th to McCarthy and then Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller stating she “discourages any additional deployment” of law enforcement beyond the DC Metropolitan Police. This publicly available letter is still posted on her Twitter account to this day.
It was not until four months later on May 12th, 2021 that Former Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller went on Congressional record testifying that President Trump wanted National Guard troops deployed on January 6 to protect his supporters during their rally, which later turned into the Capitol attack. As reported in an article by Reuters, Trump instructed Miller to approve any requests to safeguard demonstrators exercising their rights. Miller explained to the House Oversight Committee that the military was intentionally restrained that day to avoid perceptions of a coup or martial law, contributing to delays in National Guard deployment during the riot, which left five dead. It was not until July of 2022, when retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg also came to Trump’s defense regarding Trump wanting the DCNG present. Kellogg also testified to Congress in December of 2021. The transcript from his testimony from that day is still yet to be released to the public.
No further information regarding the DC National Guard was made public until two years later. In March of 2024, two major bombshells were released to the press: The first, which was revealed in an exclusive with The Federalist, reported that Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s House Select Committee on Oversight released a never-before-seen transcribed interview conducted by the J6 Select Committee. As reported by The Federalist, and a press release published by Loudermilk himself, President Trump's former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato, went on record stating that the President did indeed request 10,000 National Guard troops to protect the nation’s capital. The interview also shows White House frustration with slow deployment of assistance. The J6 Select Committee conducted this interview in January of 2022, but oddly never released it. Why did the now dissolved Select Committee choose to not release this specific interview? We still do not know.
The second major report was published as an exclusive by The Daily Mail, two weeks after the discoveries found by Rep. Loudermilk’s Oversight Subcommittee. In this article, former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller claims he was pressured by the January 6 Committee to remain silent about former President Trump authorizing National Guard deployment during the Capitol riot. Miller alleges the committee, led by Rep. Liz Cheney, threatened to disrupt his life if he continued speaking publicly, as his account contradicted the committee’s narrative of Trump’s inaction. He says his testimony, along with others corroborating it, was suppressed or discredited by the committee, which he believes prioritized framing Trump. Miller now views the investigation as politically biased rather than objective. This just raises more questions than answers: Why did the January 6th Select Committee choose to conceal so much evidence that inherently exonerates President Trump?
One month later in April, four National Guard troops testified in front of Loudermilk’s Oversight Subcommittee specifically to discuss the Pentagon’s role in the delay of the National Guard. One of the men who testified was Colonel Earl Matthews, who famously published a 36-page memo in December 2021 blowing the whistle on the Defense Inspector General report that he felt was fraudulent and protective of the higher-ups in their response to January 6th, as originally reported by Politico. On the day of the April 2024 testimony, Congressman Mike Morrelle (D-NY) Challenged Colonel Earl G. Matthews over President Donald Trump's handling of the January 6 “attack” on the Capitol. The Congressman was so humiliated that fellow members began laughing at his false narrative. Watch the full exchange courtesy of citizen journalist Kyle Becker.
It was not until the summer of 2024 that two more groundbreaking discoveries were brought to light thanks to Loudermilk’s Oversight Subcommittee. Following a letter sent to HBO requesting documentary footage produced by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the media company was then required to hand over all recorded video from the events of that day. In an official press release published by Loudermilk, the J6 Select Committee had this footage on hand, but chose neither to release it publicly, nor archive the footage at the end of the 117th Congress or hand it over when Republicans took the House majority at the beginning of 2023. In the video footage, Pelosi admits on record that “I take responsibility” for the security failure. Which is a complete contradiction to what she has said publicly for the last three years, blaming Trump for the security failures.
Then, by the end of Summer 2024, the biggest bombshell of all was covered by John Solomon’s Just the News reporting. In his coverage, the Subcommittee on Oversight released to the public multiple transcribed testimonies of leading Pentagon officials. Among those interviews included former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, who admitted on record in a transcribed interview with the DOD Inspector General on April 8, 2021 that President Trump said:
“Hey, I don’t care if you use Guard, or Soldiers, active duty Soldiers, do whatever you have to do. Just make sure it’s safe,” (Milley 2021).
These never before seen interviews were a complete contradiction to the original claims made by the DOD IG report published on November 16, 2021, which stated the actions at the Pentagon were “reasonable in light of the circumstances”. This newfound evidence that has been hidden from the public eye for over three years proves two things: First, it proved that a previous article Solomon wrote for Just the News two years earlier was correct. Second, the interviews proved that President Trump did, in fact, notify top Pentagon officials of his desire for National Guard deployment on January 6.
All of these findings completely debunk and refute statements made by the Select Committee such, as Executive Summary No. 17 from their Final Report:
“President Trump had authority and responsibility to direct deployment of the National Guard in the District of Columbia, but never gave any order to deploy the National Guard on January 6th or on any other day.”
Or
“Some have suggested that President Trump gave an order to have 10,000 troops ready for January 6th The Select Committee found no evidence of this. In fact, President Trump’s Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller directly refuted this when he testified under oath:
Committee Staff: To be crystal clear, there was no direct order from President Trump to put 10,000 troops to be on the ready for January 6th, correct?
Miller: No. Yeah. That’s correct. There was no direct—there was no order from the President.
This is important because the Final Report of the J6 Select Committee claims they found “no evidence”. That’s a game of semantics because while it may be true on paper that there was no direct order, that was very likely because the offer of the troops was rejected by the local civilian leadership. As damning as many of these discoveries are, the unraveled and now debunked narrative the Democratic Party tried to push with President Trump & the National Guard is just the tip of the iceberg of the many nefarious actions they manufactured with regard to the events of January 6th. What were the other incriminating actions they committed? Look no further than the epicenter of their operation—the J6 Select Committee themselves.
The History of the Select Committee
Immediately following the events of the January 6th Capitol riot, Speaker Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic House Caucus wanted to launch an official Congressional investigation into how it unfolded. The Democrat’s original goal was to have it mirrored similarly to that of the 9/11 Investigative Commission. The effort, however, died quickly following a 54-35 vote in the Senate to end the filibuster. As a legal loophole meant to bypass the failed Commission, Speaker Pelosi then went to establish a Select Committee as a means to investigate the Capitol riot.
What should have been a good faith investigation rooted in transparency of full Congressional powers, ended up being an investigation with multiple incidents of unethical behavior at best, and possibly borderline illegal behavior at worst:
Records Request of Private Citizens: In 2021, on the 25th of August, the Select Committee issued its first broad records request to multiple Executive Agencies. The Committee’s most notable request was sent to the National Archives, requesting records of communications between Trump and White House Staff. Why was this problematic? Well, it did not just stop at communication requests between Trump and the White House staff. The letter to the NARA requested the records of multiple high profile private citizens that contacted the White House up to nine months prior to January 6th (up until April 2020). This set a dangerous precedent for the right of privacy of individuals based on their political affiliation. Especially since several of those listed in the request did not even participate in the Save America rally, let alone being present in Washington, D.C.
Records Request of Social Media Companies: The following day the Select Committee sent out request letters to multiple social media platforms and forums, seeking information about what the committee deemed to be “domestic violent extremists, including racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, militia violent extremists, sovereign citizen violent extremists, QAnon, or other extremists associated with efforts to overturn the 2020 election.” Once again, this was an attempt by the Committee to try illegal search through the private data of millions of social media users.
Seemingly, both records requests were completely unnecessary; given that just a few days prior, the FBI’s own internal investigation confirmed there was no evidence of a centralized coordinated attack on the Capitol, as reported by Reuters.
Outright Defamation of Public Figures: In a televised hearing on July 12, 2022, the Select Committee played a clip of citizen journalist and podcaster Tim Pool reading a headline, juxtaposing it with others advocating violence, implying he supported such actions. They took this 30-second soundbite from Pool completely out of context and lied by omission by refusing to play the full 30 minute video. Tim Pool would later publish in a Newseek Op-Ed responding to the Committee’s actions, where he claimed the edited clip was designed to assassinate his character, incite fear, and radicalize viewers, leading to harassment and threats against him.
Allegations of Destroying Federal Records: Seven months after their dissolution, new allegations were announced about possible illegal actions made by the Select Committee. In an exclusive report by Fox News Digital published in August of 2023, GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight, alleges the Select Committee failed to preserve key documents, video depositions, and communications with the Biden White House. He claims the Committee's records were disorganized, missing data on Capitol security failures, and lacked full video deposition archives. Loudermilk accuses the "Blue Team," tasked with probing security issues, of being sidelined in favor of blaming Trump. Disputes between Loudermilk and former J6 Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson revolved around missing records, with Thompson asserting compliance with House rules while Loudermilk claimed crucial materials were intentionally withheld. These issues, Loudermilk says, impeded efforts to investigate security failures during the Capitol riot.
Allegeations of Missing Video Interviews: More concerns about missing Federal records were made later on in November that same year. In an exclusive report from Just the News, Rep. Barry Loudermilk once again voiced concern that videotapes of witness interviews conducted by the Democrat-led January 6th committee were missing, raising concerns from him as the Chairman of the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee. Loudermilk believed the tapes, which were used in televised hearings, should have been preserved as Congressional evidence under House rules. Despite requesting the tapes, Loudermilk said former committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson confirmed they were not kept. Loudermilk suspected the tapes still exist and are being sought.
This record loss could affect criminal trials related to January 6th, including those involving former President Trump, whose legal team was denied access to committee evidence.
Additionally, some committee evidence, such as transcripts sent to the Biden White House and Homeland Security, were heavily redacted, leaving House Republicans with no clarity on witness details or their relevance to Federal prosecutions.
Loudermilk’s concerns raised valid points that many Americans share, regarding the transparency of the Select Committee, and how genuine they were in their investigation.
Allegations of Deleted Encrypted Files: Two months later in another exclusive report by Fox News Digital, it was revealed that the former J6 House Select Committee deleted over 100 encrypted files before the GOP lawmakers took the majority in the House. In that same report, sources who spoke to the outlet said that an investigation led by House Administration Committee's Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk revealed that the J6 committee deleted the files, after being required to turn them over to a new panel of GOP lawmakers, after the House majority went to the Republican party.
The Contradictions of Cassidy Hutchinson: On March 11, 2024, the Loudermilk’s Oversight Subcommittee released an 81-page Initial Findings Report.
In the report’s findings, Loudermilk confirmed the previous information stating that the J6 Select Committee did indeed destroy and delete over a 100 encrypted files, as well as having confirmed the missing video files of recorded interviews.
Remember Cassidy Hutchinson, the groundbreaking “star witness” of the J6 Select Committee that served as an aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows who testified that Trump had lunged at the steering wheel of the presidential SUV and engaged in a physical altercation with his lead Secret Service agent after being told they were not going to the Capitol? That all sounded pretty unbelievable. Because, it was. Accountings of the event were revealed in other unburied interviews (including one from none other than Trump’s OWN VALET DRIVER) that completely refuted Ms. Hutchinson’s story, but for some odd reason that particular interview with the Valet was completely left out of the Select Committee’s Final Report.
You can read more details about the interview here in Loudermilk’s Press Release, and you can read the full transcribed interview here. In the transcripts, the Valet completely refutes almost everything Ms. Hutchinson said: Trump never supported the chant “Hang Mike Pence”, he had no predetermined plan to go to the Capitol, and efforts to talk to Speaker Pelosi and General Millie to deploy the DC National Guard were ultimately prevented from happening.
Cheney’s Private Communications with Hutchinson: Seven months later in an October 15th press release, the Subcommittee on Oversight discovered new evidence showing that Liz Cheney, then-Vice Chair of the January 6 Select Committee, communicated with Cassidy Hutchinson behind her attorney’s back, encouraging her to fire her lawyer, and providing her with new legal representation. These actions allegedly violated ethical standards. Hutchinson's subsequent testimony aligned with the Select Committee's narrative but included uncorroborated claims. The Subcommittee suggests Cheney manipulated the process to strengthen the Select Committee's case against Trump while discrediting opposing voices, including Hutchinson’s former attorney, Stefan Passantino.
New Forensic Findings: One week later in another press release, the Oversight Subcommittee uncovered new evidence from a certified handwriting analyst confirming that Eric Herschmann, not Cassidy Hutchinson, wrote a keynote for President Trump on January 6, 2021. Hutchinson testified under oath and wrote in her book that she penned the note, but this analysis contradicted her claims. The Select Committee failed to verify her testimony and relied on it without corroboration, raising concerns about the accuracy of its findings. This once again, proved that there were factually incorrect elements of Ms. Hutchinson’s multiple sworn statements to the J6 Select Committee. You can view the documents of the Forensic Examiner here.
All of these conclusive findings were laid out in the Oversight Subcommittee’s updated interim report on January 6th, which Rep. Loudermilk offered key highlights of in a press release.
The People Who Paid the Price
While it is relieving for the tens of millions of Trump supporters to be slowly vindicated throughout the years with the unraveling of the false narrative, it is hard to fully celebrate knowing the costs it has had on others. While President Trump has, and always will be, the center of the whole conversation there are a plethora of individuals that have faced unjust persecution for their direct, indirect, or in some instances ZERO involvement with what occurred on January 6th. That list includes but is not limited to:
Brandon Straka: Mr. Straka is a former lifelong Democrat who left the party in 2018, and who founded the #WalkAway Campaign. The FBI raided his home and arrested him on felony charges on Monday January 25th, 2021, but a Judge released him from jail the next day. Several months later the DOJ finally dropped all charges against Straka and he was able to enter a plea agreement of a Class B Misdemeanor for disorderly conduct. Irrespective of the lowered sentencing, Brandon Straka did NOT go inside the US Capitol, did not participate in ANY violence, did not encourage violence, and did not plan any violence. So, he shouldn’t have even been charged to begin with. By any standard, his treatment by the FBI has been horrible.
It should be noted, however, that Mr. Straka did have a legal victory in a separate J6 civil case after being sued by eight Capitol Police officers under the KKK Act. The lawsuit alleged the defendant engaged in a racially motivated attack and caused the officers’ injuries, despite no evidence of contact or proximity between them on January 6th. The case entered discovery, revealing that some officers were not even present at the Capitol or near the defendant at the time. After years of litigation and significant financial costs, the court dismissed the case. You can read his press statement here, or watch his video statement here.
Owen Shroyer: Mr. Shroyer is a prominent conservative journalist who hosts The War Room with the news organization InfoWars. The Biden DOJ issued an arrest warrant for Shroyer simply for standing on the steps of the Capitol Building. Shroyer was released following his own surrender to the FBI. Shroyer claims he attended as a journalist and maintains he had no intent to commit violence, emphasizing his efforts to promote a peaceful demonstration. Bodycam footage supports his account, showing Shroyer and Alex Jones urging the crowd to avoid confrontations with police. Fox News host Tucker Carlson addressed the DOJ charging Owen Shroyer, but Tucker believes Shroyer’s charges stem from a prior incident in December 2019 when he disrupted a congressional hearing and was ordered not to return to the Capitol. It could also be part of a bigger politicized attempt to fault Alex Jones & InfoWars for supposedly inciting the riot, despite further video evidence showing the opposite.
Jacob Chansley: Mr. Chansley is a Trump supporter who famously entered the Capitol building in Viking gear and face makeup. He was one of the first participants to be indicted and arraigned in the days following January 6th. He was officially sentenced on November 17th, 2024, for 41 Months (almost 3.5 years) in Prison on a felony charge. To put this in perspective, Branden Michael Wolfe was also sentenced to 41 months for pushing a barrel into a fire at a Minneapolis police precinct building during protests and unrest after the death of George Floyd. And El Chapo’s wife was sentenced to 3 years in U.S. prison for her role in his drug trafficking empire. While in prison Mr. Chansley did an exclusive interview with Andrew Callaghan of the Channel 5 News YouTube channel on the one year anniversary of J6. It was not until the following year, on March 6, 2023, when Tucker Carlson released never-before-seen security footage from inside the Capitol building. A significant portion of the released footage revealed Chansley was offered a personal tour of the Capitol building by the Capitol Police themselves in a peaceful & respectful manner. This also led to the re-emerging of another video of Chansley reading Trump’s tweet, telling protestors to GO HOME and remain peaceful. Following the viral video clips debunking the original claims about him, and support for his freedom from people like Elon Musk, Jacob Chansley finally received an early release from Federal prison to a halfway house.
Enrique Tarrio: Enrique Tarrio, is the former leader of the Proud Boys. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison, the longest punishment related to January 6th. Although Tarrio wasn’t at the Capitol that day, he was convicted of seditious conspiracy and labeled a terrorist under a “terrorism enhancement” in his sentencing. The Government argued he incited the riot through online posts and organizing efforts. The trial raised questions about fairness, with testimony from an FBI informant suggesting the violence was unplanned, and evidence withheld from the defense under claims of it being classified. Additionally, the FBI had at least eight informants within the Proud Boys, two of whom breached the Capitol. Critics argue Tarrio's sentence exemplifies the politicization of January 6th cases and the expansion of anti-terror measures into domestic political conflicts. Enrique Tarrio's attorney, Nayib Hassan, has sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking for a pardon.
Thomas Caldwell: Caldwell is a 70-year-old disabled Navy veteran. Despite never entering the Capitol, committing no violence, and having no criminal record, the FBI conducted a militarized raid on his Virginia farm, falsely accusing him of leading an Oath Keepers "attack" based on a misinterpretation of his military title and social media messages. The DOJ charged him with six federal crimes, including seditious conspiracy, despite no evidence of a pre-planned plot, driven by political pressure to frame January 6 as an insurrection. Caldwell endured 53 days in jail, mostly in solitary confinement, and faced a biased trial in Washington, D.C., where he was acquitted of major conspiracy charges but convicted of minor evidence tampering. His attorney argued that the DOJ’s actions were a politically motivated smear, making Caldwell a prime candidate for a full pardon.
Ashli Babbit: Ms. Babbitt was a 14-year Air Force veteran, and was fatally shot by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd during the January 6th riot while attempting to breach the Speaker’s Lobby. She was unarmed, and other officers present did not see her as a threat. Byrd, who had a history of mishandling firearms, reportedly gave no warning before shooting. The incident lacked transparency, as Capitol Police protocols shielded Byrd’s identity for eight months and exonerated him without public investigation. Critics argue this represents a double standard in accountability, given the broader push against police brutality.
Matthew Perna: Mr. Perna was a nonviolent January 6 defendant who entered the Capitol for 20 minutes without causing harm. After voluntarily cooperating with the FBI, he was subjected to intense legal and public harassment, losing his livelihood, reputation, and hope. Facing harsh prosecution and delays in sentencing, Perna died by suicide, leaving his family devastated. Critics argue that Perna's treatment reflects an overzealous Justice Department focused on punishing January 6 participants, regardless of the human cost, to serve political agendas and media narratives.
Perna was one of four confirmed J6 defendants to have committed suicide; along with Jord Meachum, Mark Aungst, and Chris Stanton.
Where do we go from here?
Learning about the events of January 6th throughout this past year has taught me a lot of things. Probably the most important one is the idea that there is always more to a story than what meets the eye, and the fact that the truth always comes out. It also taught me how easy it is to purposely use theatrics to push mass deception to the general public. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that part. That whole period when the J6 Select Committee made a big deal about going “primetime” over the summer of 2022? Yeah, they also outright admitted the production format was a publicity stunt to manipulate the audience. It made sense in hindsight, given that prior to major Committee hearings, it was empirically proven two years ago that January 6th was the least ranked concern regarding Americans’ priorities, according to a poll by CBS. So, it made sense why the Democrats would actively attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill to promote their political theater.
Where the Democrats failed was that they banked on the truth not being discovered as long as they did not lose political power. Once the Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives, that became a major turning point with respect to what we understood about the events of that day. The initiatives taken by the Subcommittee on Oversight under Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s leadership has proven critical in exposing the facade the Select Committed originally presented. They purposely propagandized their hearings, they highlighted “star witnesses” that spread outright lies about what actually happened, censored vital interviews that contradicted the testimonies they did broadcast, neglected to hand over their own documents to the new Congress, deleted and destroyed important encrypted files, and purposefully left out additional facts from their own Final Report that otherwise would have debunked their own narrative.
At what cost though? All to push a failed sham impeachment trial, politically persecute their opposition who shape conservative politics, prosecute over 1500 American citizens (most of which received exaggerated charges, and many of whom have been stuck in jail for years), and the unfortunate deaths of a few defendants because they could not handle the scrutiny. There needs to be accountability, from the former Select Committee, the Biden/Garland DOJ, and the FBI, which we now at long last have confirmation that they had 26 Sources on the ground, per Michael Horowitz’s Inspector General Report.
Lastly, it taught me something very important about American political discourse when it comes to the topic of “political violence”, especially when comparing the American Left versus the American Right, and it revealed people’s selective outrage with regard to riots in our country in the name of politicized justice. When we look back at recent high profile incidents, it seems apparent that many were politically motivated, and that they almost always stem from Left-Wing Causes (e.g., the 2014 Ferguson Riots, the 2016 Election Result Riots, the 2017 inauguration riots, the 2018 Kavanugh Capitol Hill riots, and of course the months on end riots pushed by Black Lives Matter throughout the latter half of 2020).
Given how both were just months apart from each other, the media and political response to BLM’s damage versus the damage on J6 is genuinely surprising.
Between 2020 and 2021, Black Lives Matter caused:
Lasted almost a full year
Participants committed 20+ murders
Hundreds of small businesses were destroyed
Protestors Bailed Out
Whereas the riot at the Capitol Building on January 6th, 2021:
Lasted A Couple Hours
Participants committed Zero Murders
Zero Small Businesses were destroyed
Protestors kept in Solitary Confinement
Encouraged by Fringe Political Groups & Agitators
Just goes to show anybody can manufacture outrage based on the politics surrounding it. That was the first thing I realized.
The second thing I realized was just how powerful the phenomenon known as “anchoring bias” is. The behavioral science group, The Decision Lab, defines the term as:
A cognitive bias that causes us to rely heavily on the first piece of information we are given about a topic.
So, for many of the remaining Americans that are still upset about the riot occurring on January 6th, as awful and unnecessary as it was, neglect to realize that there really was so much more to that day than what the media and the Select Committee chose to report . There is still even more information waiting to be released. We will just have to wait and see what will be discovered next, especially now as it leads into the transition to President-elect Trump’s second term.
Acknowledgements
Virtually all of the information I have gathered for this article—like many of the articles I will publish in the future—is done through the format of “Open-Source Journalism”, which is done by using publicly available information like satellite imagery, social media posts, and online databases to gather information. The original primary sources that authored a lot of the information I shared with you here—They are the ones who deserve their flowers and so much more.
Darren Beattie: Mr. Beattie is the senior editor at the independent media group known as Revolver News. It was their detailed investigative journalism throughout 2021 that helped debunked many of the false narratives regarding January 6th. Thankfully, the Revolver News shared a two-part article covering a reading list of their most important stories they uncovered regarding the Capitol riot and the Select Committee:
Revolver’s Jan. 6th Reporting Changed the Game: Read Our Top Jan. 6 Investigative Stories Here (June 18, 2021)
The Essential Revolver News January 6 Reading List (January 5, 2022)
John Solomon: Mr. Solomon is the founder and owner of the media site Just the News. They too have contributed to a handful of bombshell reports through their own investigations into what occurred on January 6th, and also the activities of the Select Committee. It was his group that reported on Loudermilk’s discoveries on the Pentagon transcripts regarding the National Guard, which they were proven correct in their reporting two years prior.
Julie Kelly: Ms. Kelly is an incredibly talented citizen journalist that has been one of the most vocal advocates and defenders/supporters of President Trump and the J6 Defendants. She has written multiple articles around the topic of January 6th on the following News Sites:
American Greatness: https://amgreatness.com/author/julie-kelly/
Real Clear Investigations: https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/authors/julie_kelly/
Her Very Own Substack Blog:
Rep. Barry Loudermilk: Rep. Loudermilk’s leadership as Chairman as the House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight contributed greatly to him being another Most Valuable Player in gathering my research. You can also see a majority of the Subcommittee’s findings in their two published Government reports:
The March 11th Initial Findings Report (One page summary can be found here)
The December 17th Final Interim Report (One page Summary can be found here)
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Thank you so much!