I am sure that most Americans who watched the first Congressional hearing by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection were once again appalled by the horrific videos they saw, but this time personally and chillingly corroborated by the harrowing testimony of the four courageous law enforcement officers who were sadly “starring” in those videos.
They vividly recalled the violence and injuries they suffered, oftentimes made even more hurtful and degrading by the racial slurs and epithets about their race and the profanity-laden insults about their law enforcement and military service that pro-Trump “patriots” hurled at them.
Any seeing, hearing and feeling American must now realize that January 6 was not a walk in the park, not a love fest, not a normal tourist visit with love in the air and patriots hugging and kissing officers.
What we have seen with our own eyes, heard with our own ears and felt in our souls can no longer be denied.
But even while the damning testimony was going on, Republicans were continuing to lie, deny, whitewash, obfuscate, shift blame and defend the indefensible.
Take GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and her sidekick, Matt Gaetz, who held a press conference outside the U.S. Department of Justice, to protest the treatment of the rioters arrested during and after the insurrection. Many of the rioters have been arrested for assaulting the four officers and another one hundred of them. Greene et al claim the arrested hoodlums are “political prisoners.”
Well, add one more “political prisoner” to the count of 535 individuals who have been arrested in the six months since Jan. 6 “for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 165 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement” as the Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney Office in the District of Columbia announced today the arrest of a Pennsylvania man “for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election.”
Samuel Lazar, 35, of Ephrata, is charged with federal offenses that include assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, among other charges…
According to court documents, Lazar was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 dressed in tactical gear, protective goggles, and camouflage face paint. As depicted in open source video, Lazar approached a line of police barricades on the west front of the U.S. Capitol where he aimed a cannister of what appeared to be a chemical irritant in the direction of U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers. As depicted in MPD body-worn camera (BWC) footage, Lazar walked along a police line around 1:13 p.m. and grabbed a bike rack, in an apparent attempt to remove it, while discharging a chemical irritant from the cannister in his other hand.
Lazar was told to get back and police deployed a chemical irritant causing Lazar to retreat down the steps. Lazar then turned to face an officer and redeployed his chemical irritant, causing another officer to lose the ability to see. An open source video depicts Lazar, purportedly at 4:30 p.m., stating, “They maced us, those tyrannical pieces of s***, and we maced them right the f*** back and now they’re taking the building.”
Tactical gear, protective goggles, camouflage paint face, chemical irritant…
Love fest, hugs and kisses, tourists, patriots?
Tell that to officers Aquilino Gonell, Harry Dunn, Michael Fanone, Daniel Hodges and dozens of other officers who are “still recovering from those hugs and kisses,” and who “went to hell and back” to protect the very same Congressmen and women who are now stabbing them in the back – once again.
