The insurrectionists were armed and organized. Officer Moore could see one was armed carrying a gun, and some were carrying and using radios.
— from court brief in the lawsuit filed Tuesday by U.S. Capitol Police officer Marcus J. Moore against Donald J. Trump
In the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attacks, conservative commentators made much of an FBI statement that no guns were found among rioters. Jill Sanborn, assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, answered in the negative when asked by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) how many guns her agents had confiscated.
“There were no guns whatsoever,” Donald Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo and her viewers.
“They called it an armed insurrection, and yet no guns were seized,” Bartiromo said, calling the description “misinformation.”
A USA Today fact check noted that outlets quoting Sanborn stripped the first part of her statement in which she said she could not speak for other law enforcement agencies present that day. The Department of Justice did in fact file weapons charges against at least two men present during the riot, and against a third who arrived late.
In his lawsuit over injuries he sustained, U.S. Capitol Police officer Marcus J. Moore stated he witnessed one rioter carrying a gun (quote above). The statement received too little attention. How many other officers on the scene saw what Moore did?
The Washington Post describes his lawsuit:
“The insurrectionist mob, which Trump had inflamed, encouraged, incited, directed, and aided and abetted, forced its way over and past [Moore] and his fellow officers,” the complaint said, “pursuing and attacking them inside and outside the United States Capitol.”
The lawsuit accuses Trump of aiding and abetting assault and battery, inciting a riot and conspiring to stage an attack on the U.S. Capitol. Moore requested Trump pay for the injuries the officer sustained, which include a condition that causes persistent ringing in Moore’s ears and trouble sleeping.
The lawsuit is similar to previous actions brought by other U.S. Capitol Police officers, who have argued that Trump and his confidants should be held responsible for the violent attack on officersworking on Jan. 6 and the physical and emotional trauma they suffer.
When Moore heard the gunshot that killed rioter Ashli Babbitt outside the Speaker’s Lobby, “he instinctively drew his service weapon and was certain he was going to end up in a gun battle,” the brief continues. Moore holstered the weapon again upon calculating “the risk that if he drew a weapon or fought back in the vestibule outside the House Chamber, it could cost him and his fellow officers their lives.”
It was chaotic. It was dangerous. Over a hundred officers were injured. People died that day while, as we now know, Trump sat watching his followers assault the seat of government on his behalf and at his instigation.
“To the list of infamous days, from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, we now have Jan. 6 — or J6, as right-wing activists have dubbed the insurrection,” writes Kathleen Parker in the Post:
We all know enough about mobs and combustible crowds to understand that it takes only one impatient troublemaker to turn a normal customer waiting line into a stampede or a peaceful gathering into a mob. Something clicks in one person’s brain, a shout goes out, a fever sets in, and the barbarians storm the gates.
Once contagion catches, there’s almost no turning back. At a certain point, even the angry become afraid, stimulating their fight or flight response and flooding all systems with adrenaline. Five people died as a result of Jan. 6, not counting the four officers who subsequently died by suicide. I think we all know we were lucky the number wasn’t higher.
I say it again: The president of the United States watched with delight what the rest of the nation watched with horror. And, still, they want him back?
Whatever has happened to our shared understanding of how things should be, Parker reflects, “we need to figure it out — now.”
With luck and justice, Trump will be held accountable for failing to honor his presidential vow to protect the U.S. Constitution. He didn’t, and he should pay for that. At the very least, he should never be allowed to hold public office again. Then, maybe the rest of us could get back to work pursuing and fulfilling the dream we once shared.
Next time, it will be worse. The insurrectionist movement will be better organized and better armed. People from Trump’s footsoldiers to Congress (likely) to the Oval Office committed crimes against the rest of us. Justice must be served as the deterrent they themselves call for against others.