The video starts with a busload of people reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. They are answering the call of their president, Donald J. Trump.
“So much more than just rallying for President Trump,” one guy tells the camera. “It’s really rallying for our way of life. The American Dream. Against fake news.”
The product of months of work by The New York Times video investigation team, the 40-minute film offers an up-close look at the riot. It combines video, some of it shot by the rioters themselves, with police bodycam footage and the audio from police radio traffic.
“In the six months since an angry pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, immense efforts have been made not only to find the rioters and hold them accountable,” the team said in the text accompanying the video, “but also — and perhaps more important — to dig into the details of Jan. 6 and slowly piece together what actually happened that day.”
In spite of Republican efforts to prevent a bipartisan investigation, the U.S. House of Representatives did vote to form a select committee, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi ensured at least some bipartisanship in the effort by naming Republican Liz Cheney as a member.
“That gives us great confidence that we will be able to work in a nonpartisan way for the people,” Pelosi said in making the announcement.
Cheney, once the third ranking Republican in the House, found herself stripped of her leadership role as punishment for her vocal criticism of Trump and the direction of her party. In response to her appointment, she issued a statement saying she was honored to be selected.
“That day saw the most sacred space in our republic overrun by an angry and violent mob attempting to stop the counting of electoral votes and threatening the peaceful transfer of power,” she said. “Those who are responsible for the attack need to be held accountable, and this select committee will fulfill that responsibility in a professional, expeditious, and non-partisan manner.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he was shocked Cheney would accept the appointment, and he suggested she might lose her other committee assignments as a result.
“I don’t know in history where someone would go get their committee assignments from the speaker and expect to have them from the conference as well,” he said.
The committee will be led by Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
“We have to get to the bottom of finding out all the things that went wrong on Jan. 6,” he said.
Some folks, it turns out, don’t really want to know. They’d rather see the events of that day through the eyes of guys like U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who takes issue with calling what happened an insurrection.
“It wasn’t,” the Wisconsin Republican insisted. “By and large, it was a peaceful protest.”
U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde wouldn’t even go that far. The Georgia Republican suggested it was more like a normal tourist visit.
The New York Times video shows a capitol police force that was woefully unprepared and quickly overwhelmed.
It shows a police officer trapped in a doorway and screaming in pain.
It shows a rioter named Ashli Babbitt trying to climb through a broken window into the House chamber and being shot to death by a plainclothes police officer trying to protect the House members who were still trying to escape.
It shows a protester named Roseanne Boyland, who was trampled to death in the crush of protesters.
In other words, it shows nothing even remotely resembling a peaceful protest or a typical tourist visit. It shows a mob run amok.
How it happened and why it happened is what the committee will be trying to figure out.
Kelly Hawes is a columnist for CNHI newspapers in Indiana. Send comments to [email protected].
