Into the Public Record

As DC Metro and Capitol Police Officers testified under oath before the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot, Republican lawmakers, including Marjorie Taylor Greene and Louis Gohmert (on the right, at the podium) and Matt Gaetz (behind Gohmert) attempted a press conference on behalf of imprisoned rioters they call “political prisoners.” The event was shut down when protesters disrupted the speakers. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger for UPI/REX)

The select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot finally began the process of bringing a much needed and widely anticipated hearing, with public testimonies by witnesses and other primary sources, under oath and into the story of Donald Trump’s coup d'état.

Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the US Capitol Police was the first to deliver an opening statement in summary of his testimony, followed by DC Metro Police Officer Michael Fanone, who has, since he was almost murdered by the rioters on the Capitol steps, made something of a name for himself advocating for the establishment of a commission or committee investigation with public hearings.

Meanwhile, Republicans from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to bomb-throwers like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Arizona and Jim (“Gym”) Jordan of Ohio held press conferences trying desperately to control the narrative, including a protest outside the Department of Justice against the prison conditions of “political prisoners” — or the insurrectionists Republicans like Mo Brooks of Alabama told Lou Dobbs on Fox News that it “could be any other number of groups, anarchists or what have you.” Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida took to the floor of the House of Representatives going on record that he had “some pretty compelling evidence from a facial recognition company showing that some of the people that breached the Capitol today were not…