OPINION: Jan. 6 committee is orchestrating a witch hunt
The congressional hearing on the Jan. 6 incursion into our U.S. Capitol building is a partisan witch hunt. It is being run exclusively by the Democrats with two token Republicans who are known Donald Trump haters. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi excluded any Trump supporters.
Several days before the Jan. 6 episode, President Trump requested that 10,000 to 20,000 National Guard members be brought in to police the Capitol grounds during the planned rally. This request was forwarded to Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and Pelosi, who both turned it down.
If Trump were planning some kind of insurrection, why would he ask that the National Guard be brought in? Why would Bowser and Pelosi turn down the request from our president? There had been rumors circulating around Washington, D.C., of possible problems at the rally. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund requested National Guard assistance six times and was denied. If the president’s wishes had been granted, the alleged incursion would never have happened. This fact alone completely discredits any charges against Trump.
Near the end of his Jan. 6 speech, Trump stated, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” You never heard any of this at the congressional hearing.
The people who are accusing Trump of insurrection are the same group who pushed the Russia collusion charge against him. We now know that the Russia collusion charge was a total fabricated lie and that these same people knew about it from the start. People such as Congressmen Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., knowingly lied daily but have suffered no consequences for their actions. Their acts badly hurt the Trump presidency and seriously divided our country. They and others should be in jail.
In late 2020, a plot was uncovered by the FBI to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The case against the alleged kidnappers soon fell apart when it was revealed that most of the group planning the kidnapping were government informants. The Jan. 6 Washington, D.C., event had striking similarities to the Whitmer fiasco. I have seen authentic photographs and videos of the event. There were clear shots of numerous people who have never been charged, who played major roles in provoking the crowds and pushing them into the Capitol building.
Ray Epps, a former Arizona Oath Keepers leader, was plainly shown numerous times on video with audio the night before and the day of the incursion urging the crowds to riot and enter the Capitol building. The morning of the incursion, he is clearly shown directing a group of men who tore down the fencing and “No Trespassing” signs that blocked the main entrance to the Capitol building. Epps was identified and located several days later by liberal groups and put on the FBI most-wanted website. A few months later, when articles published on the website revolver.news detailed Ray Epps’s role as an unindicted actor on Jan. 5-6, conservative groups started questioning why the feds had not gone after him. His name was suddenly dropped from the wanted list without any explanation.
He and the individuals that he collaborated with were never pursued or arrested. Some groups believe that there were as many as 40 government agents mixed in the crowd. You will not find this information on any of the mainstream media. They have become an arm of the Democratic Party and the federal government. You have to go to sources like revolver.news or the Epoch Times to get the other side of the story.
More than 800 people from 48 states have been charged with participating in the Jan. 6 event at the U.S. Capitol. A few have been charged with more serious crimes such as assault, but most have been charged with trespassing. They are being accused of insurrection, but they are only being charged with misdemeanors. Some have been held in federal facilities for almost 1½ years without due process. It is my understanding that they are being held under a controversial provision of the “Patriot Act” that allows for indefinite detention of suspected terrorists.
John Whitehead, founder of Rutherford Institute, has written that “the Patriot Act violates at least six of the 10 original amendments known as the Bill of Rights — the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth amendments — and possibly the 13th and 14th as well.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has mounted a rigorous campaign against the Patriot Act, challenging several of its provisions in federal court. In the 2009 report, “Reclaiming Patriotism: A Call to Reconsider the Patriot Act,” the ACLU wrote: “The Patriot Act eroded our most basic right — the freedom from unwarranted government into our private lives — and thwarted constitutional checks and balances.” The Patriot Act violates our right of “due process.”
According to Wikipedia, “Due process is the legal requirement that the state must respect all legal rights that are owed to a person. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual person from it. When a government harms a person without following the exact course of the law, this constitutes a due process violation, which offends the rule of law.”
We are losing our liberty one law at a time. The new red-flag rule in the recently adopted gun control bill has the potential to seriously damage our freedom. Individuals will be able to anonymously snitch on anyone who makes them angry. The accused will lose his firearms without warning and then have to go to court and prove that he’s not crazy. We will all be considered guilty until proven innocent. This is what our Founding Fathers warned us about.
We have no rights without due process.
Dugger retired as a journeyman carpenter from Clearwater Paper. He lives in Lewiston.
