Today marks a sad day in American history.
As did millions of other Americans that day, I watched in horror and disbelief as our Capitol building, the seat of the legislative branch of our government, was invaded, vandalized and looted. We watched in horror as police officers were beaten and sprayed with caustic sprays.
The former president, unwilling to accept defeat, called his supporters to action — and may well have plotted with the mob's leaders. He told a crowd that morning to "fight like hell." While the extent of his involvement is still being uncovered by the congressional committee investigating the insurrection, it is obvious that at the very least he incited the mob and then did absolutely nothing to stop the insurrection, which resulted in the deaths of five people and the suicides of four responding Capitol police officers.
This mob of thousands of "patriots" called for the lynching of Vice President Mike Pence and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. They injured 140 police officers and did $30 million in damage to the US Capitol building. The outgoing president delayed sending in the National Guard for several hours. The Capitol police were overwhelmed, unprepared and suffered from inept leadership and lack of communication with other law enforcement agencies. He continued to assert the lie that the election had been stolen from him through voter fraud. He reportedly watched the events at the capital, which was severely damaged and offices looted, with a great deal of glee, doing nothing to try to stop the insurrection.
This mob was not a bunch of patriots, as they consider themselves. They are thugs and domestic terrorists. More than 725 participants have been charged with a variety of crimes for their roles in the insurrection.. Sadly, the ringleaders like Trump have yet to face charges. He is clearly frightened, as he is throwing roadblock after roadblock in a so-far failed attempt to keep the committee -- and the American public -- from getting a clearer picture of his involvement in the insurrection. Legal challenges have so far been dismissed by the courts. His claim of executive privilege -- a right that can be invoked only by the sitting president -- has been rejected by Joe Biden.
The pace of the investigation has been extremely slow. People who refused to respond to subpoenas have faced no punishment. You'd better believe that if I or any other non-privileged person refused to respond to a subpoena, we would immediately be hauled off to jail in handcuffs. And yet, members of Congress who have been implicated in the insurrection have faced no charges. What about those who gave tours to some of the terrorists on January 5? What about those who stood by and did nothing other than hide on January 6 despite being 'in' on the plot?
Faith in our justice system, which in many cases is a total joke, will not be restored until the instigators, perpetrators and colluders of the insurrection are brought to justice. In some countries, what these people did would be considered treason. And the biggest traitor of all is the former president.
I know that the FBI has already investigated hundreds of those who were part of the mob. But Congress needs to proceed with its investigation so the Department of Justice an go about charging of all implicated in the attempted insurrection forthwith. Those who took part in the insurrection, as well as all those who aided and abetted the insurrection, including members of Congress and those up to and including the former president, need to be held accountable.
The American people who believe in the US Constitution and the rule of law — the overwhelming majority of Americans -- demand justice. We were lucky that the insurrection failed -- this time.
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