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RAISING CONCERNS WITH EVIDENCE SELECTION BY THE JANUARY 6TH SELECT
COMMITTEE
______
HON. PAUL A. GOSAR
of arizona
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I rise to address matters concerning the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Others have addressed how the Committee was formulated, and how the Democrats vetoed all the Republican nominees for the Committee, and instead chose two jack-Republicans. Allowing the Democrats to control who the Republicans can pick to serve on their side is like having the Milwaukee Bucks choose the starting lineup of the Phoenix Suns. That is not my concern today.
Today, I want to point out the travesty of evidence selection. If we want the American public to get to the truth of January 6th, you must be able to handle the truth, that means all the truth, including facts you don't like or facts that may reflect poorly on people you like.
In that regard, I object to the failure to release all the evidence regarding January 6th. The 14,000 hours of surveillance video has been suppressed. Thousands of hours of body camera footage has been suppressed. Video and still photographs from official and home security systems have been suppressed that would have, and did, record the Republican National Committee pipe bomber. The investigation and report of the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt has been suppressed. All we have seen is one video, which clearly shows an unlawful killing by the officer. If there are other videos exonerating him, why haven't they been released? We know that Rep. Mullins has stated publicly that the officer who unlawfully shot Ashli Babbitt felt remorse and guilt for his wrongful actions. But we do not have his own words of contrition. Moreover, many criminals show remorse and guilt after the event, yet we still prosecute them.
That brings me to the most well-funded per capita police force in the world, the United States Capitol Police. With 2,500 officers, protecting the Capitol should have been obtainable. What happened? Why were there so many breaches so quickly? Well, we know that the rank-and-file officers want to tell us why, but they were not invited to testify. We need the truth, and these men and women need to be able to tell their stories, the story of how their own leadership, and the political leadership in Washington, D.C., failed them and led to the breaches. I include in the Record the press release dated July 28, 2021 from the Capitol Police Labor Committee whose voice, like so many, has been silenced by this Committee. They need to be heard and the truth needs to come out, even if the truth makes political leadership look inept.
Capitol Police Union to House Committee: ``Hear All Our Voices''
United States Capitol Police Labor Committee
Washington, D.C.--Capitol Police Officers are suffering a whole-of-force effect from the January 6th attacks on the U.S. Capitol, says the union representing those officers.
The Capitol Police Officers' Union welcomed today's testimony from two Capitol police officers and two MPD officers to the House Committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection.
Union Chairman Gus Papathanasiou said: ``Their testimony is a crucial start to understanding the broad and far-reaching effects on all our officers from the violence that day.''
``In support of all our officers, our Union stands ready to provide the Committee with the depth needed to fully grasp the enormity of the events that day and provide the context for how events went so terribly, and tragically, wrong.''
``The police response to January 6th represents a disastrous collapse of leadership that was not simply an aberration confined to that one day. It was months and years in the making.''
``To fully understand why our officers felt so abandoned, requires an understanding of how they came to be left uninformed and lacking in defenses when it mattered most--when an attack on the U.S. Capitol was being fully realized.''
``Most importantly, we arrived at that position of vulnerability because the voices of the rank-and-file-officers had been ignored for years. There was no collaboration from Capitol Police leaders with the frontline officers, instead it was a top-down approach that left a void of information and planning. As an officer working that day, I can attest, there was NO plan, and certainly no contingency plans by the Chiefs.''
``That lack of leadership had tragic consequences. The riots led to the deaths of officers, and injuries to an estimated 140 Capitol Police and MPD officers, some of whom will never return to service.''
``As individual officers testified today, they did their best and succeeded in their mission to protect all members of Congress and their staff that day. The Committee needs all the facts to understand why the U.S. Capitol was so vulnerable, and why it will remain vulnerable if the broader rank-and-file officers are not heard.''
``The most urgent challenge, is to keep the officers we have right now and that requires a renewed faith in their mission and a restored belief that Congress has their backs.''
``Poor morale, inequitable pay and conditions, and a leadership that refuses to engage--these are contributing factors to the events of January 6th and they remain factors still, today.''
``The Union asks that the Committee listen to the active-duty police officers who have been chosen by the rank and file to represent them.''
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 132
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