Posted on 02/10/2021 9:51:31 AM PST by Heartlander
The claim is so pervasive as not to be questioned: Five people died as a result of the January 6 “insurrection” at the Capitol building, killed by blood-thirsty Trump voters at the president’s behest, out for revenge over a stolen election.
Even though only one death—the shooting of Ashli Babbitt by a still-unidentified police officer—is provable by video evidence, the other fatalities nonetheless are accepted as an article of faith to stoke public outrage about what happened that day.
The most tragic death, the media and lawmakers lament, is that of United States Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick. The 42-year-old New Jersey native was a 12-year veteran of the Capitol police force and himself a supporter of Donald Trump.
Before details about his death could be confirmed, the media quickly insisted Sicknick died after he was attacked at the Capitol.
“A United States Capitol Police officer died Thursday night from injuries sustained when he engaged with a pro-Trump mob that descended on the U.S. Capitol the day before,” the New York Times reported January 8. The officer, according to the Times, had been “struck . . . in the head with a fire extinguisher, according to two law enforcement officials. With a bloody gash in his head, Mr. Sicknick was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support.”
Sicknick died on January 7. A statement released by the police department later that night vaguely supported the media’s emerging narrative.
Democrats wasted no time exploiting Sicknick’s untimely death. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) immediately ordered flags flown at half-staff at the Capitol; news and opinion outlets on both the Left and NeverTrump Right blamed the so-called “insurrectionists” for killing Sicknick.
National Review claimed, without evidence, that Sicknick was “murdered.” The president and his allies in the Senate, pundits raged, were accomplices. “When he told followers to ‘STAND UP,’ they listened and murdered a cop while storming the Capitol,” one Washington Examiner writer tweeted about the role of Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). “Make him pay.”
Lawmakers of both parties paid their respects to Sicknick last week during a rare Capitol ceremony; his body lay in honor in the Rotunda on February 3 following a brief memorial service. When Joe Biden and his wife walked away from the display, the president shook his head in grief.
The widely-accepted circumstances surrounding Sicknick’s death are part of the Democrats’ impeachment crusade against Donald Trump. “The insurrectionists killed a Capitol Police officer by striking him in the head with a fire extinguisher,” House impeachment managers allege in a memorandum detailing their evidence.
But that inflammatory accusation isn’t backed by an autopsy report or any hard evidence such as a video clip. It isn’t backed by charging documents filed against anyone suspected of killing Sicknick; nearly five weeks later, no one has been accused of murdering the officer even though federal law enforcement officials have arrested more than 200 people tied to their involvement in the January 6 melee.
No, the only proof the House impeachment managers can find is the January 8, New York Times article that relied not on evidence but on background from “two law enforcement officials.”
If Sicknick is the face representing the carnage of January 6, Democrats are at risk of losing their most compelling sympathy storyline just as the impeachment trial gets underway.
“Investigators are struggling to build a federal murder case regarding fallen U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, vexed by a lack of evidence that could prove someone caused his death,” CNN disclosed last week. “Authorities have reviewed video and photographs that show Sicknick engaging with rioters amid the siege but have yet to identify a moment in which he suffered his fatal injuries.”
A medical examiner’s report has not been released and law enforcement authorities are tight-lipped; in a January 26 email to me, an FBI spokeswoman refused to comment on the status of the investigation. The District of Columbia medical examiner’s office told me Monday by email they “will release the cause and manner of death when this information is available.”
Sources, however, told CNN that the medical examiner “did not find signs that the officer sustained any blunt force trauma . . . and early reports that he was fatally struck by a fire extinguisher are not true.” Investigators also couldn’t confirm that Sicknick died as a result of reaction to pepper spray.
Messaging from the FBI does little to inspire trust in the Sicknick storyline. The agency at first issued a statement that claimed 37 suspects were under investigation for the officer’s death but later said the statement was in error and relied on “incorrect internal information.”
During a January 12 press briefing on its sweeping investigation into the events of January 6, the assistant director for the FBI’s D.C. field office twice referred to Sicknick as having “passed away,” with no mention of his having been “murdered” or “killed.” A distinction, in this matter, with a big difference.
Comments from Sicknick’s family also raise legitimate suspicions about what happened to their loved one.
“Many details regarding Wednesday’s events and the direct causes of Brian’s injuries remain unknown, and our family asks the public and the press to respect our wishes in not making Brian’s passing a political issue,” his older brother wrote in a statement released January 8.
The family issued another brief statement thanking Democratic Congressional leaders for bestowing the “historic honor” of lying Sicknick’s remains in the Capitol and his subsequent burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
Democrats undoubtedly will present lots of optics this week related to Sicknick’s tragic death but Republican lawmakers, Trump’s legal team, and the media must demand more evidence. There is, of course, a chance that the FBI is having trouble identifying any suspects from the more than 200,000 tips it has gleaned so far—although one must wonder why a nationwide manhunt is finding Trump supporters charged with trespass misdemeanors, and not a heartless cop killer instead.
The more likely explanation is that Sicknick wasn’t murdered but died of other causes that neither law enforcement nor the family wants made public. It’s certainly the family’s prerogative to keep it secret; it is not, however, acceptable for the FBI to continue avoiding questions while at the same time feeding the public a false account of what happened to him. And since the medical examiner’s office hadn’t confirmed the cause of death, it’s beyond irresponsible for anyone, particularly a reporter, to describe it as murder.
The Left, as past and present show, will stop at nothing to destroy Donald Trump and vilify his supporters. No one should discount the idea that Democrats and the news media would intentionally promote a totally fabricated story or use as a prop an untimely death to satisfy that mission.
And since Democrats included the “murder” of Brian Sicknick in its bill of particulars against the president, the impeachment trial, ironically, offers the only opportunity for Trump and his defenders to clear the air on Sicknick’s death—it’s an opportunity they should not waste.
More than a week ago, the Capitol Police admitted that Sicknick was not in the video of the group of cops that had a fire extinguisher thrown at them.
I haven’t seen that video yet, but I agree with you on hoping those who did that, whoever they are, get caught.
funerallies ...popular since Carnahan died in a plane crash and the Dems were able to ride the sympathy wave and get his wife illegally installed in office while no one dared question the constitutionality.
“Even though only one death—the shooting of Ashli Babbitt by a still-unidentified police officer—is provable by video evidence...”
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I wouldn’t say the video proves Babbitt was shot and killed.
Supposedly he sent a text to his family saying he was fine but had gotten some pepper spray, said nothing about being hit by anything.
Ah. Ok, I don’t always look but to the top few articles posted.
Yeah. Me too but I happened to see it earlier.
Even conservative media keep repeating the claim that the “deadly riot” claimed five lives. At least three of the deaths were from natural causes, and possibly the police officer’s as well. The only death that was actually caused by the rioting was the woman who was shot by the police.
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Which confirms the allegation that much of the so-called “conservative” media is under the control of the enemy.
So a legit video showing the perp, with a pistol, emerging from a doorway and shooting Ashli in the neck doesn't prove she was shot and killed?
Dumbest thing I've read all day.
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All of my life, the Democrat leaders have lied to me and my fellow citizens so that they could fill their, and their supporters, pockets with dirty money stolen from US Taxpayers or from money given by nations seeking to destroy us.
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Well and truly said and every word of it!
Congratulations! Good to know you can read.
Even what happened in the Ashli Babbitt killing is unclear. Why wasn't her shooter identified? Where are the details of her autopsy results and funeral? There has been speculation that her killer is Capitol Police officer David Bailey, who is black. The wristband worn by the shooter appears to be identical to one previously worn by Bailey. I had assumed that the shooter would be identified to the public, because the Capitol Police obviously know who he is. Were the optics of putting a black officer on trial for shooting an unarmed conservative white woman just too terrible for Democrats to contemplate?
There has even been speculation that Babbitt was just an actor, that her death was staged, and that she was alive when she was carried off the scene. I don't buy that narrative, but it would still help to have her autopsy results and the details of her funeral.
In order to ward off conspiracy theories, BE TRANSPARENT!
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