Commentary: Lump of Coal Awards 2021, January 6 Edition

Merrick Garland, Adam Kinzinger and Chris Wray
by Julie Kelly

 

Aside from the pandemic, no other issue has dominated the daily news cycle and collective fixation of the ruling class more than the alleged “insurrection” on January 6, 2021.

The events of that day were a gift to the Biden regime and the Democratic Party—which should instantly disabuse anyone of the notion that the Capitol protest was legitimately an organic uprising instead of an inside job orchestrated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and the FBI to name just a few accomplices.

Since then, every lever of government power in Washington, D.C. has been wielded in a vengeful way against American citizens who dared to protest the rigged 2020 presidential election. The conduct of those in charge has exposed the moral depravity of the people who populate the power center of the world’s greatest country, showing a stark chasm between the inherent goodness and decency of the American people and the sadistic ghouls who call the shots from the Beltway.

The people on this list deserve a far greater punishment than a lump of coal. And this list could be much longer. But since it’s the Christmas season and all, I’ll be charitable.

This year’s naughty list, January 6 version:

Attorney General Merrick Garland: It’s hard to see how Garland could do more damage as a Supreme Court justice than what he’s doing now as the nation’s top lawyer. In all honesty, Garland is more like Biden or Robert Mueller—a grandfatherly disguise to conceal the sinister actors behind the scenes—and it’s actually Lisa Monaco, his deputy, who’s in charge.

But Garland has the title so he deserves the lumps—and the top of this list. The former D.C. Circuit court judge is overseeing the largest criminal investigation in Justice Department history related to January 6. Shamelessly comparing the mostly nonviolent protest that day to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which resulted in the murder of 168 innocent Americans including more than a dozen children under the age of five, Garland has unleashed a ruthless team of line prosecutors to ruin the lives of 700 Americans and counting.

His office has sought pre-trial detention in at least one hundred cases, successfully convincing D.C. District court judges to deny bail to alleged “insurrectionists,” including several not accused of committing any violent crime. (At the same time, Garland announced he will not force thousands of convicted criminals released to home detention under emergency pandemic rules to return to prison.)

More than 14,000 hours of surveillance video captured by Capitol security cameras is “highly sensitive” government material according to Garland; his office insists the footage must remain concealed from the American public. Garland’s prosecutors are bastardizing a vague obstruction statute to criminalize political dissent and turn January 6 trespassers into convicted felons.

When confronted by Representative Tom Massie (R-Ky.) to disclose how many undercover federal agents participated in January 6, Garland acted confused by the question then refused to answer.

The Justice Department is working in tandem with House Democrats and the January 6 select committee. Last month, Garland charged Steve Bannon, a one-time Trump confidante and influencer on the Right, with two counts of contempt of Congress after Bannon refused to comply with committee subpoenas. Other Trump allies including former chief of staff Mark Meadows could face similar charges.

No other attorney general, including Eric Holder, in recent memory has been as openly vindictive, partisan, dishonest, and hostile to the equal application of the law than Merrick Garland.

FBI Director Christopher Wray. One of Trump’s worst appointments—and that’s saying a lot—Chris Wray continues to use his unchecked power to target Republicans. In March, Wray designated January 6 an act of “domestic terror,” which unleashed the full force of law enforcement against suspected “domestic terrorists” involved in the protest—even those accused of low-level offenses such as obstruction or, my personal favorite, “parading” in the Capitol building, an activity considered a Consitutional right until January 6.

For nearly a year, Wray’s FBI has conducted a campaign of terror against American citizens across the country. Families have awakened to pre-dawn FBI raids complete with dozens of armed agents and armored vehicles including trucks equipped with battering rams to knock down front doors. Agents have interrogated suspects without a lawyer present, refused to present search warrants when asked, and confiscated personal items that have no relevance to what happened on January 6.

Wray’s FBI has issued geofence warrants to collect cell phone data on anyone in the nation’s capital on January 6, an egregious privacy violation. FBI investigators have subpoenaed tech companies to retrieve deleted social media posts, text messages, and other personal information.

At the same time, Wray refuses to disclose how many FBI informants were deployed by his office before and during January 6. In September, the New York Times confirmed at least two confidential sources were embedded in the Proud Boys, a militia group Wray considers a domestic terror threat, months before the Capitol protest.

The FBI’s Twitter account routinely posts photos of its “most wanted” suspects related to January 6.

And he still hasn’t caught the alleged “pipe bomber” who set explosive devices outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee on January 5.

The D.C. District Court: Justice is not blind before the judges sitting on one of the most powerful courts in the country. Every judge—whether appointed by Trump or Obama or Reagan—is playing along with the Justice Department’s abusive prosecution of Capitol defendants.

Judges routinely describe January 6 as a “riot” or an “insurrection.” The presumption of innocence has been torched as judges turn pretrial detention hearings into ex parte trials where protesters have no chance to defend themselves against biased judges carrying out the regime’s commands.

Each judge has signed off on an least one pretrial detention order, sending even nonviolent offenders to languish in the D.C. Gulag. At the same time, the same judges push trial dates into the middle of next year, repeatedly excluding time from the speedy trial clock (which is 70 days) and tolerating the government’s lengthy delays in discovery and Brady rule obligations.

Chief Judge Beryl Howell actually scolded the Justice Department for going too light on January 6 defendants by not recommending harsher sentences and by lowballing damage estimates.

Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, has sentenced trespassers to jail time, even in cases where prosecutors have recommended home detention.

The entire bench is a national disgrace.

United States Capitol Police: Far from the friendly mall-cop types who monitor the metal detectors or help tourists find their way around, Capitol Police, for the most part, acted like stormtroopers on January 6. Capitol Police joined D.C. Metro cops in attacking crowds of peaceful protesters assembled outside the building early that afternoon, dousing people with tear gas, launching pepper balls, and standing by as D.C. Metro cops deployed flashbangs and sting balls filled with rubber bullets.

Hundreds of protesters were let into the building by Capitol police officers at different vantage points, setting them up for trespassing charges weeks and months later.

USCP lieutenant Michael Byrd shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed female veteran, at near point-blank range. Unlike every other police officer involved in a fatal shooting, however, Byrd’s identity was concealed for months. Capitol Police refused to disclose his name and later exonerated him of any wrongdoing.

USCP initiated the lie that Officer Brian Sicknick died after he was attacked by protesters on January 6. Even after the D.C. coroner concluded Sicknick died of natural causes, Capitol Police to this day continue to lie that Sicknick was killed in the line of duty.

Democrats, at a time when police departments around the country are falling victim to the “defund the police” movement, rewarded USCP this year with a nearly $2 billion budget boost; now Democrats want to open satellite USCP offices in other states, far exceeding the agency’s authority.

Other worthy recipients: D.C. Department of Corrections for torturing January 6 detainees; Representatives Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for their mere existence; Congressional Republicans for refusing to speak against this travesty of justice; and Donald Trump for not using his platform routinely to defend his supporters now vilified as “insurrectionists.”

Please pray for those ensnared in this cruel, un-American prosecution. And pray for karma to catch up with everyone else.

Merry Christmas!

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Julie Kelly is a political commentator and senior contributor to American Greatness. She is the author of Disloyal Opposition: How the NeverTrump Right Tried―And Failed―To Take Down the President. Her past work can be found at The Federalist and National Review. She also has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, and Genetic Literacy Project. She is the co-host of ‘Happy Hour podcast with Julie and Liz.’ She is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University and lives in suburban Chicago with her husband and two daughters.
Photo “Capitol Riots” by Tyler Merbler CC BY 2.0.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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