Why The New York Times’s Jan. 6 U-turn is a big deal
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
I s The New York Times going soft on the Jan. 6 rioters? Maybe beginning to doubt its lopsided coverage of the events of that day? Starting to think the Justice Department’s investigation into the protests, deemed “the biggest criminal inquiry in the Justice Department’s 153-year history,” is just a bit over the top ?
Or is the Times worried that newly released footage will reveal a different story than that told by the biased House investigation used to impeach former President Trump?
Thanks to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Americans have an opportunity to challenge Democrats’ accusation that many hundreds of Trump supporters engaged in a violent “insurrection.” The new Republican Speaker of the House recently released 44,000 hours of video tapes , including security video from the Capitol Hill police, affording us another look at what actually happened that day.
This we know: 63 days after the election of 2020, supporters of Trump marched to the Capitol. Some were armed and dangerous, intent on disrupting the peaceful transfer of power to newly elected Joe Biden. Others were not, but believed that Democrats stole the election, and followed the throngs who headed toward Congress ready to protest the theft. Some got caught up in the moment, stayed clear of the violence that followed but were later hunted down and imprisoned.
One such participant is the subject of a lengthy and compassionate story published by the Times two days after the release of the new tapes. It concerns a Wisconsin man thrown in jail because his son turned him into the FBI. The father, Brian Mock, is introduced as a political moderate, a landscaper who occasionally voted Republican but who also voted for former President Obama. He is portrayed as an utterly decent and law-abiding man who is an “advocate for the homeless” and who supported his son when he came out as gay.
In the article, Mock, who was convicted of 11 charges relating to the riot but has not yet been sentenced, is trying to make his son understand how he got caught up in the rowdy crowd and why he is photographed pushing a police officer. He has been warned by his lawyers that he could spend several years in prison, even though he never set foot inside the Capitol and, according to him, only laid a hand on the cop when he thought he was going for his weapon.
Watching video of the event, he says, “There were throngs of people, like a river. You’re in the current. You’re getting pushed … I had a concussion grenade go off and explode right on me. … Can you see how that would provoke a crowd?”
“I’m not some lunatic frothing at the mouth. I got in a bad situation for about five minutes. Do you see where I’m coming from?”
A great many Americans will see where Mock, who went to D.C. after hearing Trump declare the election stolen , is coming from. In a CNN poll conducted this past summer , only 29 percent of Republicans and right-leaning independents thought Biden’s election was legitimate, while 69 percent did not. Of the country overall, 38 percent think Biden is an illegitimate president. Given the concerted effort by the liberal media to squash such doubts and the ongoing vilification of “election-deniers,” that figure — roughly the same as it was on Jan. 6 — is troubling.
Through Aug. 4, more than 1,100 people faced criminal charges related to the events of Jan. 6; 967 for “Entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds,” of which 104 were also charged with carrying a weapon; 372 for “Assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees”; 310 for “Corruptly obstructing, influencing or impeding an official proceeding or attempting to do so”; 115 for stealing or destroying government property; and 42 for conspiracy.
In an era when career criminals are often released without bail, large-scale theft is tolerated and progressive district attorneys refuse to prosecute even low-level felonies, the aggressiveness of the FBI in pursuing the Jan. 6 attendees hits a nerve. Many consider it politically motivated and yet another example of what some call our “ two-tiered system of justice .” Biden’s campaign rests on depicting “ extreme MAGA Republicans, ” as he calls them, as an existential threat to our democracy; nothing suits that pitch better than locking up hundreds of “insurrectionists.”
Coverage from the liberal media, and the made-for-TV depiction of events skillfully put together by House Democrats for the second impeachment trial of Trump, tell one story. Certain videos, some of which were released by Tucker Carlson in April, tell another. It is clear that Democrats cherry-picked the evidence that painted Trump and his supporters in the worst possible light. Commentators on the right have done the opposite. Legitimate questions persist.
For instance, some protestors are shown being uncuffed and fist-bumped by cops , suggesting that there were undercover FBI or police in the crowd, whom some accuse of purposefully instigating the storming of the Capitol. That issue was raised last spring by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, who wrote a letter to the Metropolitan Police Department asking about the presence of “plain-clothes officers.”
When Rasmussen polling asked in April (after the Tucker release): “How likely is it that undercover government agents helped provoke the Capitol riot?” 59 percent of Democrats, 62 percent of Republicans and 74 percent of independents agreed it was likely .
When Johnson announced he would abide by an earlier promise and make the tapes public, Democrats were furious, accusing him and his GOP colleagues of breaching the security of the Capitol. Their complaints make it look like they have something to hide and further the distrust they have sown.
Make no mistake — the riot on Jan. 6 should never have happened. But voters doubt they have the whole story; they are probably right. Maybe the Times will lead a more balanced review.
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Sometimes things are obvious before there is evidence and sometimes it takes a long time to get to the truth.
We recently found out the truth about the death of George Floyd.
Now we might finally get a full understanding of what happened on Jan 6th.
There was no truth in that garbage article about the murderer Chauvin, just victim blaming.
The feds lied to us.
The feds aren't the ones lying.
You left out the ghost buses.
LOL!
No sane person would ever agree that undercover agents were involved in 1/6. What a steaming load of bullshit like all your other conspiracy theories, including the deep state.
LOL. The delusions of the far right are pathetic and probably very dangerous for our country.
So Trump said the election was stolen so tens of thousands of people had to go to the Capitol that day. To do what? Stand outside in the cold singing protest songs? There are so many things wrong with this story it would take all day to list them.
Well, you could list a few, since it would make your accusation more credible. Please provide us with proof that this event was a planned in advance attempt to pull off a coup, an insurrection as some have called it.
It was planned in advance, a failed coup/insurrection.
Explain the scum there with shirts on with the date of the failed coup/insurrection on them.
They tapes will show that the events of J6 were essentially a nothing burger, a mostly peaceful protest that got out of hand by the actions of a small minority of the marchers. It certainly was not a planned insurrection.
They went there that day instead of going to the park to play on the monkey bars , right ?
Insurrectionist gymnastics.
Just energetic youth playing king of the mountain.
Who needs a door when there are windows available for breaking and entering ?
It still looks like a very small minority of the participants, out of a crowd of thousands of patriots,
Nobody is claiming that the violence was undertaken by more than a minority of the large crowd.
Every functioning mind already knows that the events of J6 went well beyond a nothing burger. Those who pay attention can see it on the tapes. The Capitol of the US was broken and forcibly entered, officers were hurt, the special session of Congress was interrupted, Senators and Representatives took cover for fear of their lives.
Those who peacefully stood by are not the issue. There is no claim that the entire crowd participated in the insurrection. The issue IS the minority who engaged in violence.
Most of it, I think, was extemporaneous — a crowd incited by Trump's speech. Those who brought weapons would have a hard time convincing people that they did not plan to bring those weapons and that they had a purpose.
They've arrested over 1,000 'peaceful protestors' since that day and there are still more. I don't consider that a small minority.
No one had any business at the Capitol on Jan 6th. The election had been certified by all 50 states. Jan 6th was a formality. By Jan 6th over 60 court cases filed by Trump lawyers had been thrown out of court. In the reality based world, it was over. Trump wanted tens of thousands to come to DC that day in order to try and disrupt the Congressional vote. He didnt call them there to hold hands at the steps of the Capitol and sing kumbaya.
I'm just waiting for the facts to come in.
I really think some folks just expect everyone to go along with the theory that less than 10k people, most of them unarmed, was somehow going to overthrow the government without military help.
I mean, doesn't that sound possible?
LMAO!
So, we were told. Something tells me that if one of the pro-Palestinian groups were to attempt the same thing, we would be hearing that "they roamed around for a bit, but nobody's life was threatened."
Like ghost buses?
Full of undercover FBI agents and informants?
I agree, but why direct your post to me rather than to someone denying this?
Good grief Vic. You are not already convinced that Trump supporters broke and entered the Capitol and disrupted an active session of Congress??
If the crowd was 10,000 then 1,000 is a small minority.
But that does not matter. What matters is that a mob of Trump supporters did indeed break and enter the Capitol and disrupted an active session of Congress.
Don't let Trump supporters deflect into a pointless debate of crowd size; it does not matter.
The point is the attempt. The crime is the attempt.
So many supporters of the former 'president' seem to feel that since the coup/insurrection failed, then no big deal, right?
Trump supporters, IMO, are in denial in many, varied ways. At the very least, they deny the fact that Trump is well beyond unfit to be PotUS.
Rather similar to the protests that happened on Jan 21, 2017 when so many were protesting the inauguration of Trump. In both the majority were peacefully protesting and a small minority was violent. But things that make one go huh... the Jan 21 protesters were all released with all charges dropped where as the Jan 6 protesters are being met with convictions and sentencing.
Breaking and forcibly entering the US Capitol and disrupting an in-session Congress is a big deal.
Yes it was and those should be held accountable under the law. But why were those who caused damage during the Jan 21 protests released with all charges dropped?
The FBI and DOJ went far beyond the norm with the prosecutions of many of those who weren't involved in violence at all, essentially going after anyone that could be identified, whether or not they were doing any kind of criminal act.
This was a travesty of injustice and the whole sorry episode should be investigated and examined in depth.
None of that is true. What a shocker.
There is a big difference between a protest on public streets and breaking and entering into a government building where the legislature was in session.
Not to the 'right'
But there is no double standard.......
yeah, right.
Evidently, it's worse than killing 2 dozen people.
Do some research by reviewing the cases and draw a conclusion. I am not going to do that work, but you are certainly free to do so.
In the meantime, until there is a clear answer, people should not presume that there is some conspiracy / double-standard that treats the Jan 21 infractions differently than the Jan 6 per what actually happened and the law.
Back to the point, there is no doubt that on Jan 6 a mob broke and entered the Capitol and disrupted an active session of Congress.