The Legacy Of Jan. 6 Should Be Massive Reform Of FBI And DOJ

Monday marked the four-year anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, when tens of thousands of peaceful Trump supporters demonstrated outside the U.S. Capitol and a small number of them clashed with police before entering the Capitol itself.

For Democrats and the left, Jan. 6 is the events that vindicates their hatred of Donald Trump and his supporters. They would have us believe it was among the darkest days in our nation’s history, when democracy itself hung in the balance and violent insurrectionists nearly prevented the peaceful transfer of power. Many of them actually believe and still repeat, as Sen. Amy Klobuchar did on Monday, that pro-Trump rioters killed police officers on Jan. 6. Above all, they insist that President Trump was responsible for the riots and chaos of that day, that he planned and instigated it and stood by while it unfolded.

That’s all a lie, of course. Trump supported a calm and peaceful demonstration outside the U.S. Capitol, he urged Democrat leaders to beef up security ahead of the demonstration (they ignored him), and he called for end to the violence soon after it broke out. The transfer of power was never in jeopardy, and the only loss of life was the unjustified killing of an unarmed woman by a Capitol police officer. 

Indeed, the real tragedy of Jan. 6 wasn’t what happened on that day but what happened afterwards, when the Biden administration weaponized the Justice Department and the FBI to prosecute more than 1,500 people, the vast majority of whom did nothing wrong.

That weaponization continues to this day. Politico reported on Monday that federal prosecutors are still trying to decide whether to charge an additional 200 people for their alleged involvement in the events of Jan. 6, “including 60 suspected of assaulting or impeding police officers during the riot.”

Incredibly, after throwing the book at 1,583 American citizens — including a whopping 600 felony charges — the feds want to charge hundreds more. Adding insult to injury, federal prosecutors “emphasized what they say is their restraint in deciding which defendants to charge,” because they have thus far not charged about 400 people who were simply present on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 but never entered the building. These 400 people, mind you, were recommended for prosecution by the FBI.

The FBI and Justice Department’s obsession with prosecuting everyone who was even near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 is not only genuinely sick, it’s an indication that the lasting legacy of Jan. 6 should be the complete gutting and reform of the FBI and DOJ. We can never again allow these federal agencies to target innocent Americans simply for their political views, which is exactly what the Jan. 6 prosecutions have turned into.

The handful of people who actually fought with police on Jan. 6 should absolutely be held accountable, as everyone who fights with police ought to be, whatever the circumstances. But we all saw what happened and we all know that nowhere close to 1,500 people were involved in violence against the police or other serious crimes.

Today, the legacy of Jan. 6 is a years-long political witch hunt designed to intimidate and demoralize Trump supporters — especially anyone who happened to be on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. Imagine how terrifying it must be for those who were there but haven’t yet been charged, knowing at any time federal prosecutors could decide to charge you — not for breaking any law or committing any crime, but simply for showing your support for Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.

That legacy has to change, and Trump has to be the one to change it. One of Trump’s first and most important tasks once he takes office should be to investigate every person at the Justice Department and FBI involved in the Jan. 6 prosecutions for conspiracy against rights. The FBI should be gutted, reformed, and rebuilt from top to bottom. Every DOJ prosecutor who brought charges against Jan. 6 defendants should not just be fired but also investigated for possible criminal charges. 

Same goes for members of the corrupt Select Committee on Jan. 6, especially Liz Cheney, who served as the committee’s vice chair and in that role suppressed evidence, tampered with at least one witness, and trotted out a litany of lies about Jan. 6 that have since been repeated endlessly by the propaganda press. 

We can’t have a republic of free citizens if we have a Justice Department that’s willing to destroy people’s lives simply for their political views. We can’t preserve a constitutional system with an FBI that wants to arrest and imprison people for peacefully voicing their dissent. And we can’t move on as a country until we can be sure that these abuses, prompted and justified by Jan. 6, will never happen again. 

John Daniel Davidson is a senior editor at The Federalist. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Claremont Review of Books, The New York Post, and elsewhere. He is the author of Pagan America: the Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come. Follow him on Twitter, @johnddavidson.