TO THE EDITOR:
Most reasonable people abhor what happened in Washington on January 6, 2021. However, the treatment of those arrested is deplorable. There is no excuse for holding American citizens in isolation, unable to speak to an attorney and being denied a court hearing date to plead their case for over a year. As you say, “the insurrectionists deserve justice.”
None of the persons arrested was armed. Thousands of hours of video of the event are being withheld for reasons unknown. A high ranking FBI official refused to answer questions in a congressional hearing. One of the questions was whether the FBI had agents or confidential informants in the crowd before or during the invasion of the Capitol.
Two days prior to the “mostly peaceful” rally President Trump asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of the District of Columbia to alert the National Guard in case there was trouble. A president cannot “call out the guard” on his own.
Four protestors died on January 6. Three from “medical emergencies” and one – an unarmed, female, 14-year veteran of the Air Force – was shot in the neck by a Capitol police officer as she was hoisted to a window by the crowd. The New York Times labeled all of them as “Trump loyalists.”
The initial report that officer Brian Sicknick was killed when hit in the head by a rioter was a complete fabrication. He died the following day from a stroke. The claim that it was brought on by stress from the day previous is nowhere to be found in the autopsy report.
The name of the police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt was kept secret until he voluntarily came forward after he was cleared by the Capitol Police and Department of Justice of any disciplinary action. Lt. Michael Byrd said he shot Babbitt because she “represented a threat to the Congress.”
CNBC reported that Byrd had been disciplined in 2019 for leaving his Glock pistol in a Washington barroom.
As you note, January 6 “demands better leadership, quickly.”
Richard J. August, North Kingstown
