Commentary
Many Americans have watched the narrative of Jan. 6, 2021, unfold, whether in person as a witness to the rally, through social media, or from news channels on mainstream media. But what is largely missing is the truth. The EpochTV documentary entitled “The Real Story of January 6th” reveals the true events of that day, providing video footage that will leave you with chills. The House select committee on Jan. 6 deemed the events of that day “an attack on the American system.” The mainstream media has painted the events as comparable to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or even the terrorist attacks of 9/11. It is being investigated as a potential insurrection and used to frame a new narrative on domestic extremism. Joshua Philipp, a senior journalist for The Epoch Times, says “the nation needs a serious examination of January 6th. One that includes subjects too often ignored in media coverage, and in political speech.” Interviews, on-the-ground reporting, and exclusive footage now tell the real story.
What Happened That Day?
Joseph Hanneman, The Epoch Times’ lead investigative reporter on Jan. 6, sets the stage for the events of the day, which started as a large gathering to hear then-President Donald Trump’s remarks on the election. Hanneman notes that Trump spoke at the gathering for a longer time than expected—meanwhile, there were already people at the capitol breaching security lines. The people Trump encouraged to go to the capitol peacefully were still listening to the president’s speech when this was taking place.
Although the media is quick to display footage of violence from the crowd at the capitol, other footage shows an excessive amount of police provocation. Hanneman says the initial use of explosive munitions that day started early on with tear gas and hard plastic pellets. Some of these munitions were fired far into the back of the crowd, impacting people who wouldn’t have known what was happening in the front. Stan Kephart is one of the nation’s top experts on police use of force and one of the top-rated witnesses in court cases on crowd control, having 42 years of law enforcement experience. He labeled the police response a supervisory failure. “That was a shooting gallery up there, a congregation of officers—I didn’t see a supervisor among them—who were using these munitions to inflict harm and injury on people below them. It egregious.” Kephart goes into great detail explaining the protocol law enforcement is trained to follow in crowd control situations. He says firing munitions from above could take an eye out or injure people’s faces, while the importance of firing straight on is to hit the aggressor in the chest, stun them, and get them to retreat. Video footage also shows officers pushing a person off a wall, which Kephart notes is a serious crime.“It is unconscionable for an officer to do such a thing. That officer is required to take that person off the wall, strip cuff them, take them into custody, and arrest them.” Shooting at the level they were, Kephart says “there is no tactical reason at all,” saying they were “showing intent by shooting at that level.” These actions elicited an angry reaction from the crowd, contradicting what the officers’ mission should have been, which was to disperse the crowd and push them back. He called it “sadistic and wrong.”
The Real Story of January 6 [Trailer]:
Watch the full episode here.
Who Died That Day?
Four police officers from that day have since committed suicide. Officer Brian Sicknick was reported to have been beaten by protestors with a fire distinguisher, however, he was found to have died from a stroke the following day, not as a result of being struck with any object. Biden has continued to say that rioters killed two police, despite the lack of evidence.
Protestor Ashli Babbit was shot and killed. Rosanne Boyland appeared to have died during the incident, although her death was initially ruled to be from a drug overdose. Benjamin Phillips and Kevin Greeson died afterward from health conditions that appear to have been triggered by munitions used against them.
Kephart says that panic reactions are real in a compacted crowd and can trigger cardiac events or result in trampling, therefore the tools and tactics used by Capitol Police should reflect this liability. “What’s depicted here is a police mob confronting a mob and fighting with them using techniques and tactics they were not authorized to use,” he said.
Victoria White from Rochester, Minnesota, said she was pushed into the tunnel entrance of the capitol by the momentum of the crowd and trapped against a wall. Video footage reveals that she was attacked by an officer and beaten for about 5 minutes, struck in the head and face by a metal baton. She said she told the officer beating her that he took an oath to the Constitution, and he called her an expletive before delivering what she said was one of the hardest blows.
Video footage shows what appears to be the execution of Ashli Babbit by an officer at near point blank range, although Lieutenant Michael Byrd has been exonerated. Nevertheless, Byrd is shown on video to have his gun drawn and trained on Ashli Babbit as she enters through a window. He claims he told her to stop, however, it is not heard on any audio, nor could it likely have been heard at the time given the loud crowd noise in the hallway. Byrd, shown in a shooting stance, advances, lunges, and fires, striking her in the left shoulder. Kephart breaks down the discrepancies of this incident, from the questionable need to fire, to how the investigation of the event was woefully lacking. He noted the officer is shown firing without a safe backdrop and flees the crime scene instead of handcuffing Ashli Babbit and administering first aid as he should have. Kephart says that based on what he saw, Ashli Babbit was murdered.
The killing of Ashli Babbit included a host of concerning details, including suspicious individuals on the scene, her trying to stop people from smashing windows, and even asking police officers why they weren’t stopping the protestors who were committing the vandalism. A SWAT team is shown coming up the stairway behind the crowd, and Alshi’s exit in the window seems to be either her trying to escape the dangerous situation that was escalating out of control, or her potentially being pushed through the window by key suspicious characters who were in the proper position to do so. Many of these characters remain unidentified, which is very strange considering they were involved in a crime scene.
Rosanne Boyland was yet another life lost during the events at the capitol. The police had released a chemical irritant into a crowded tunnel, restricting oxygen and causing panic. Rosanne Boyland, who was in the tunnel, fell and was trampled. In this type of event, it is the duty of the police to render aid, but instead, the officers are seen pushing people out of the tunnel. Many in the crowd were begging the police to help Rosanne, but they would not and one officer even kicked a few people on top of her. She was down for around 5 minutes as protestors were trying to protect Rosanne, but one of the officers is caught on footage striking the fallen victim twice in the head and once in the chest.
Another protestor came to the front and is seen yelling at the crowd to stop and telling them to pray. Someone gave him a crutch and he used it as a barrier to protect Rosanne from the police as other crowd members dragged her away and performed CPR. Eventually, the crowd laid her back at the foot of the police, asking for help. Hanneman said the way the officers eventually dragged her out reminded him of dragging a deer carcass. Some officers inside the capitol did try to save her, but by that time it is believed that she was already deceased. Her death was initially ruled to be from a drug overdose, but the finding was challenged and disputed.
“I was horrified,” Kephart summarized of Boyland’s incident. “My conclusion in reviewing the officers’ behavior is that they were untrained, they were not properly equipped, they were not properly commanded and supervised, and that they did a reactive, fear struck, or anger struck, tactics where they punished people, rather than arresting or dispersing them.” He said what happened to Rosanne was “definitely a crime,” calling it assault and intent to do great bodily harm.
Who Is Being Charged?
As early as the very next day, the FBI and DOJ began rounding up subjects, dragging suspects and family members out of their homes and holding them at gunpoint with M4 carbines. Some 850 people have been arrested for primarily misdemeanor charges. To be charged simply with trespassing has resulted in many being shunned by their countrymen as traitors or even insurrectionists. Some have been fired from their jobs, based only on allegations. For others, the pressure was too much and they ended their own lives. Many defendants from Jan. 6 are still incarcerated, some denied bail and others held in solitary confinement, a form of incarceration deemed by the ACLU as a human rights abuse. Jake Lang is one of those defendants, saying he is in solitary confinement because they want to “torture me into taking a decade-long plea deal.” He calls his treatment “cruel and unusual punishment, and specifically because they want to send a signal out to the rest of the Americans, if you ever dare to stand for your Constitution and for your civil liberties, we will call you a domestic terrorist, we will drag you away from your home, and your family, and your community, and we will put you in deplorable conditions, torture you into ridiculous plea deals, and meanwhile drag your name in the mud through mainstream media.”
According to the footage available, the most apparent act of violence seen was one man pushing a police officer over a barrier. However, those actions did not represent the majority of the crowd or even reach the same level as the nature of violence from the Black Lives Matter riots that happened earlier that summer. Many people at the Jan. 6 gathering did not even see violence taking place at all.
The man who held up the crutch to protect Rosanne Boyland in her final moments, Luke Russell, was painted as an insurrectionist and now faces multiple charges, including assault of a federal law enforcement officer with a dangerous weapon and interference with federal law enforcement. The full context of many scenes from his involvement is not shown by mainstream media. Luke recounts that people were screaming that they couldn’t breathe. He is shown yelling at the crowd to stop and then being struck in the back while he did so, which is why he turned and held the crutch in a defensive position. “I just wish more could have been done to save her life,” he said. Russel has spent 45 days in prison and has had two plea deals offered, one for 4–5 years if he pleads guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon (the crutch). The other was 8–14 months if he pleads guilty, but he refuses to do so. “The only thing they can do is kill me or put me back in prison, and I’m not scared either way. I’m ready to do whatever God calls me and whatever He wills for my life.”
The group called “The Oath keepers” are the center of the prosecution, which alleges the group went to the protest to prevent the counting of electorate votes. However, this group is caught multiple times on film de-escalating conflict and protecting and assisting police officers.
The question must be answered: why do the indictments from Jan. 6 make the victims out to be the aggressors, not the officers who were violating training and protocol and committing criminal acts?
Perhaps more alarming than the aggressive nature of who has been charged is the amount of suspicious actors who have not been charged or even identified. Many who fall in this category include the same group of suspicious characters who seem to be instigating much of the violent activity. Kephart says the behavior of the police officers constituents a crime of entrapment—which invokes an arrestable response. He claims that many officers are guilty of inviting people into the capitol and then arresting them for trespassing. He says the Capitol Police created a circumstance where they could use force and make an arrest, with an attitude of anger, not only for what the crowd was doing but also for who they were. Normal protocols were not followed, people violated laws they did not know they were violating, and video evidence shows that many police could stand trial for use of force and murder, but they are not.
Conclusion
According to Joshua Phillip, video footage from that day certainly challenges the narrative set by the mainstream media. Jan. 6 is being used politically to demonize Trump and the entire MAGA movement, as well as justification to create new laws on terrorism. Crimes were committed, but investigations of crimes need to be made equally. Why is the mainstream media hiding the full context of events? Why have many of the main instigators not been charged? Only through truth can justice be served and Americans begin to heal.
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