January 6, 2021, 1 year ago: Treason was committed by supporters of the sitting President of the United States, and possibly by the President himself.
These facts are not in dispute:
* September 29, 2020: President Donald J. Trump, having been nominated by the Republican Party for a 2nd term, was debating the Democratic Party's nominee, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Trump was asked about right-wing groups, including the one calling themselves the Proud Boys: "Proud Boys, stand back, and stand by."
* November 3: Election Day. For most of the night, Trump led in Electoral Votes and popular votes.
* November 4: After midnight on Election Day, things began to change, because votes on the West Coast, which were always expected to favor Biden, began to come in. Biden surpassed Trump in the popular vote, and the Electoral Vote became very close, as several States saw Trump's lead in them shrink, and eventually turn toward Biden.
* November 7: Most major news outlets admit that Biden has a lead in the State of Pennsylvania that is so large, Trump cannot possibly retake it. Therefore, if every other State still in doubt still falls to Trump, Biden will still have the 270 Electoral Votes necessary to win the election. Joe Biden is now the President-elect.
Biden makes a victory speech that night in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Trump refuses to concede.
* December 7: The Republican Party of the State of Arizona -- a state narrowly won by Biden -- sends out a communication, asking supporters if they were willing to give their lives fighting over the election results.
* December 14: The Electoral College meets. Biden wins their vote, 306 to 232.
* December 19: On his Twitter account, Trump announced the following: "Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!"
* December 27: Trump has a conference call with officials with the U.S. Department of Justice, who tell him, "DOJ can't and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election." Trump tells them, "Just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen." He again tweets a promotion of the scheduled January 6 rally.
* January 3, 2021: Trump orders Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller to "do whatever was necessary to protect the demonstrators" on January 6. Not the Capitol. Not members of Congress. The demonstrators.
* January 4: Secretary Miller orders prohibiting the deployment of members of the District of Columbia National Guard with weapons, helmets, body armor or riot control agents, without his personal approval. In other words, the only protection the Capitol Building complex will have for the certification of the Electoral Votes will be the U.S. Capitol Police, under the control of the Congress, not the President as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, as would be the U.S. Army or the D.C. National Guard.
* January 5: Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy -- reporting to Miller, who reports to Trump -- issues orders to D.C. National Guard Commanding Major General William J. Walker: He must seek approval from McCarthy and Miller before preparing to respond to a civil disturbance. Previously, he had the authority to respond without such permission.
* January 6, 2021:
** 3:23 AM: Ron Watkins posts a tweet accusing Vice President Mike Pence of orchestrating a coup against Trump, and links to a blog post calling for "the immediate arrest of VP, for treason." The idea appears to be that Pence isn't doing enough to keep Trump (and himself) in office, because, as Vice President, it is his duty to read and certify the Electoral Vote totals, and he has already told Trump that he will do his duty.
Watkins is the son of Jim Watkins, operator of the white supremacist website 8chan. Both are major figures in the QAnon conspiracy group. (Ironically, Jim's ex-wife and Ron's mother is Korean. Jim met her while serving in Korea in the U.S. Army.)
** 8:17 AM: Trump tweets: "States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!"
Here, the ALL CAPS are Trump's, not mine. At least 55 lawsuits attempting to get various States' vote totals disqualified have been filed, and all of them have failed, due to lack of evidence. As I said, I am listing facts that are not in dispute. The fact that Trump has launched accusations of voter fraud is not in dispute. The fact that none of his accusations has yet been found by any court to have any merit is also not in dispute. It is possible to believe that there is merit to these cases, but, as of January 5, 2022, no court has found any such merit.
** 9:00 AM: The "March to Save America" rally begins at the Ellipse, to the south of the White House. Among the speakers is Representative Morris "Mo" Brooks of Alabama, who says, "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass!"
** 10:50 AM: Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York, and one of the lawyers helping Trump sue to overturn the election, begins speaking at the rally. He repeats conspiracy theories that voting machines were "crooked," and calls for "trial by combat." This is a tradition dating to the Middle Ages, essentially a sanctioned duel, in which the winner -- who kills the loser -- must have been the one who was right, since God allowed him to be the one to live.
** 10:58 AM: A Proud Boys contingent leaves the rally, and marches toward the Capitol Building, a mile and a half southeast down Pennsylvania Avenue.
** 12:00 Noon: Trump begins his speech, lasting over 1 hour. He repeats his allegations of a stolen election. He criticizes Pence by name 6 times. He accuses fellow Republicans of not doing enough to help him. He says he will walk with the crowd to the Capitol. Of course, as he usually does, he breaks his word, and heads back to the White House. Why should he risk anything, when he's got thousands of people willing to do it for him?
** 12:05 PM: Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona tweets that Biden should concede, and demands that this happen by the next morning.
** 12:20 PM: An officer of the Federal Protective Service, the security agency for federal government buildings other than the White House and the Capitol, writes in an email, "POTUS is encouraging the protestors to march to capitol grounds and continue protesting there." "POTUS" meaning "President Of The United States."
** 12:28 PM: A FPS officer -- I have no way of knowing whether it is the same one -- reports 10-15,000 people moving toward the Capitol.
** 12:49 PM: Capitol Police respond to a report of possible explosive devices at the headquarters of both major parties' National Committee headquarters. Molotov cocktails and homemade napalm are found. No bombs are detonated.
** 12:57 PM: FPS officer report that the Capitol Police barricade on the west side of the building has been breached.
** 1:00 PM: The ceremony to certify the Electoral Vote begins. Pence has released a letter stating that the Constitution of the United States prevents him from unilaterally interfering with the vote count. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund calls Robert J. Contee III, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington (a.k.a. "DC Metro Police" or just "DC Metro"). Contee deploys 100 officers to the Capitol complex.
** 1:10 PM: The earliest DC Metro officers arrive. Meanwhile, Trump's speech finally ends, with these words: "We're going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country."
** 1:12 PM: As required for an objection to be heard in such a case, one Republican Congressman, Gosar, and one Republican Senator, Rafael "Ted" Cruz of Texas, object to certifying the Electoral Votes of the State of Arizona. (The States' votes are read alphabetically: Those of Alabama and Alaska, which went for Trump, were accepted as certified. Arizona, which went for Biden, was next.) The joint session of Congress breaks up, and members go to their separate chambers to debate the objection.
(Cruz had opposed Trump for the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination, heard Trump call his wife ugly and accuse his father of being involved in the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and not only did nothing to defend them, but became one of Trump's leading supporters.)
** 1:30 PM: Capitol Police are overwhelmed, and retreat up the steps of the Building.
** 1:49 PM: Chief Sund requests assistance from General Walker. Walker loads Guardsmen onto buses in anticipation of receiving permission to deploy from Secretary McCarthy.
** 1:51 PM Michael D. Brown, former Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and now a radio talk show host, tweets that the people breaching Capitol security are not pro-Trump right-wing protestors, but left-wing protestors in disguise: Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and others. Given the pro-Trump paraphernalia they had, they would have been, to borrow a Winston Churchill phrase, very well disguised. These claims are soon repeated by others, including Todd Herman, guest hosting for the ailing Rush Limbaugh.
You might remember Brown as the FEMA Director who botched the response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, and was told by President George W. Bush, "Yer doin' a heck of a job, Brownie."
** 2:05 PM: The 1st death of the proceedings occurs. Kevin Greeson, 55, of Athens, Alabama, suffers a heart attack on the West Front of the Capitol. There is no indication that he had participated in any violence. The accusation that his heart attack was caused by a taser left in his pocket going off is unfounded, as is the accusation that he stole a portrait from the Capitol, as none of the protestors had yet made it inside.
** 2:12 PM: The 1st rioter enters the Capitol, through a window on the northwest side, broken by rioter Dominic Pezzola.
** 2:13 PM: Pence is removed from the Senate chamber to a nearby office. The Senate is gaveled into recess.
** 2:14 PM: Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman leads a mob to backup in front of a set of Senate doors while Senators attempt to evacuate. In so doing, he may have saved several lives, including Pence's: Several videos of the attack include a chant of "
Hang Mike Pence!" Supporters of the President wanted to hang the Vice President, for doing his duty to the Constitution, instead of maintaining loyalty to the President.
Yes, it really happened. No, they were not kidding.
At the same time, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, is removed from the House Chamber by her protective detail. Her life was definitely in danger: Within a few minutes of this action, Dawn Bancroft, a gym owner from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, made a selfie video claiming, "We got inside. We did our part. We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin' brain, but we didn't find her."
UPDATE: On the one-year anniversary, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revealed that he was targeted: He was "within 30 feet" of "nasty, racist bigoted insurrectionists," and heard one of them yell, "There's the big Jew, let's get him!"
** 2:22 PM: A conference call of D.C. leaders, including Mayor Muriel Bowser, Metro Police Chief Contee, and Capitol Police Chief Sund, calls Secretary McCarthy, and asks for additional D.C. National Guard support. Sund says, "I am making urgent, urgent, immediate request for National Guard assistance."
** 2:23 PM: A police lieutenant sprays the crowd with a chemical substance, possibly tear gas. Julian Khater sprays a chemical substance of his own, hitting Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, a 42-year-old native of South River, Middlesex County, New Jersey, who had publicly expressed support of Trump.
** 2:24 PM: Trump tweets, "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA Demands the truth!"
** 2:44 PM: A rioter attempts to force entry into the Speaker's Lobby next to the House Chamber. She is shot by a Capitol Police officer. Her name is Ashli Babbitt, from California. She had shown signs of mental illness and violent tendencies as far back as 2015. She had accused Pence of treason and called for the resignation of Chief Justice John Roberts, and she had now been shot and killed committing an act of treason. She was 35 years old, and the 1st "martyr" of the QAnon movement.
** 2:49 PM: Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia offers the use of the Virginia National Guard, stationed across the Potomac River from Washington, for the protection of the Capitol. His offer is refused by Secretary McCarthy.
** 3:04 PM: Secretary Miller finally approves the activation of 1,100 DCNG soldiers. But he still doesn't approve their deployment.
** 3:05 PM: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California does a live interview with DC TV station WUSA-Channel 9. He says he called Trump to urge him to calm people down, but Trump did nothing.
** 3:10 PM: Dave Rorher, Deputy Executive of Fairfax County, Virginia, dispatches County police to cross the Potomac and aid the Capitol Police.
** 3:13 PM: Trump tweets, "I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order -- respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!" The violence was already over 2 hours old.
** 3:15 PM: Governor Northam calls Speaker Pelosi, and tells her he's sending the Virginia National Guard, no matter what Trump and his lackeys want.
** 3:37 PM: Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, orders mobilization of his State's National Guard, because he anticipates it being called.
** 4:05 PM: Biden holds a press conference, and calls on Trump to "demand an end to this siege."
** 4:17 PM: After watching the events unfold on TV, and after receiving requests from his own children -- Ivanka was upset with not the violence, but the "optics," and Donald Jr. told White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, "He's got to condemn this shit, ASAP" -- Trump uploads a video to his Twitter account:
I know your pain. I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side.
But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don't want anybody hurt.
It's a very tough period of time. There's never been a time like this where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us -- from me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace.
So go home. We love you. You're very special. You've seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace.
** 4:26 PM: Rosanne Boyland, 34, of Kennesaw, Georgia, a recovering drug addict who wanted to become a drug counselor, but was addicted to QAnon, collapses at the Capitol, and is taken to a hospital. She dies that night. The cause is later determined to be an amphetamine overdose.
** 4:32 PM: Secretary Miller finally approves the DCNG's deployment.
** 5:08 PM: General Walker finally gets Secretary Miller's permission to deploy the DCNG, over 4 hours after the violence began.
** 5:40 PM: The Capitol Building is cleared of rioters, but not before portraits are stolen, Pelosi's office is broken into, and some rioters had even smeared their own excrement on the walls. Some carried Confederate flags inside the Building.
It was noted that this was the worst attack on the Capitol since August 24, 1814, when the British Army burned it (and the White House) as part of the War of 1812, but even they did not walk around the Building with their own flags. And no one dared bring a Confederate flag into the Building during the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865, either. Yet, now, it had been done.
** 5:45 PM: Ashli Babbitt is pronounced dead.
** 6:09 PM: Rosanne Boyland is pronounced dead.
** 7:00 PM: Facebook, which also owns Instagram, removes Trump's posts from both platforms. Twitter, Trump's favorite social media platform, follows, 2 minutes later with a temporary ban.
** 8:00 PM: The Capitol Police declare the Capitol Building to be secure.
** 8:06 PM: The Senate reconvenes, with Pence presiding, and debates the objection to the Electoral Votes from Arizona.
** 9:00 PM: Pelosi calls the House back to order.
** 10:00 PM: A few hours after texting his brother that he had twice been hit with what he thought was pepper spray, but was "in good shape," Officer Sicknick collapses from what is later determined to have been a stroke. He is taken to a nearby hospital.
** 10:15 PM: The Senate votes 93-6 to reject the objection to Arizona's Electoral Votes.
** 11:30 PM: The House votes 303-121 to reject the objection to Arizona's Electoral Votes.
* January 7:
** 12:15 AM: The recording of the Electoral Votes continues. When Pennsylvania's are read, Representative Scott Perry of that State and Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri file an objection.
** 12:55 AM: The Senate rejects the Pennsylvania objection, 92-7.
** 3:10 AM: The House rejects the Pennsylvania objection, 282-138.
** 3:36 AM: The Electoral Vote is certified: Biden 306, Trump 232, just as had been presented to Congress. Despite the shock of the day, I had stayed up, watching the whole thing, and noted that the time of the certification was reminiscent of the 1970 hit by the band Chicago: "25 or 6 to 4."
** 9:30 PM: Officer Sicknick dies, after being attacked by a Trump supporter. So much for "law and order" and "Back the Blue." This finalizes the death toll from the insurrection: 5, 2 of them not directly due to violence.
* January 8: Trump tweets that he will not attend Biden's Inauguration. This is his last tweet, as Twitter permanently bans him, citing "the risk of further incitement of violence." Meanwhile, FBI Assistant Director Steve D'Antuono calls a press conference, saying that there is no evidence that Antifa members were part of the crowd storming the Capitol.
* January 13: The House impeaches Trump for the high crime of "Incitement of Insurrection." The House does this, knowing full well that the Senate will acquit him, and that the Senate trial won't begin until after Trump leaves office anyway. There have now been 4 impeachments of a President by the House in the 232-year history of both offices, and 2 of them have been of Trump.
* January 20: Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States. Trump, for once as good as his word, did not attend: He left the White House in the morning, and was already on the ground at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida retreat, when Biden was sworn in.
Donald Trump tried to overturn the result of the election. It was an attempted coup d'état, and he didn't care who got hurt in service to him. Not even his own Vice President.
The Capitol Insurrection was a greater threat to American democracy than the attacks on Fort Sumter, Pearl Harbor and the World Trade Center combined. Hundreds of people have been prosecuted as a result of it. So far, none of these have been people in the Trump Administration. Trump himself has not been formally charged with anything.
What have we learned, Charlie Brown?
