
Growing evidence concerning the January 6 incursion at the U.S. Capitol is showing that President Donald Trump did not incite anyone to violence that day.
The case against the president was dealt a heavy blow last week when the feds charged three men for the Capitol incursion, alleging that they had planned their attack as far back as November, meaning that nothing the president said that day incited anyone’s actions.
“Jessica Marie Watkins, 38, and Donovan Ray Crowl, 50, both of Champaign County, Ohio; and Thomas Caldwell, 65, of Clarke County, Virginia, were indicted today in federal court in the District of Columbia on charges of conspiracy, obstructing an official proceeding, destruction of government property, and unlawful entry on restricted building or grounds, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1512, 1361, and 1752,” the DOJ said in a Jan. 27 press release. “According to the charging documents, Watkins, Crowl, and Caldwell communicated with each another in advance of the Jan. 6, 2021, incursion on the U.S. Capitol and coordinated their attack,” the release added.
Democrats have claimed that the president “incited” the Capitol incursion with a speech he made over a mile away from Capitol Hill. But, the arrests seem to show that at least the three arrested had already planned to break into the Capitol Building far ahead of any comments made by Trump.
Kevin Brock, former assistant director of intelligence for the FBI, told Just the News that the president’s speech does not rise to “incitement.”
Per Just The News:
In an interview Thursday, Brock told Just the News he listened to Trump’s entire Jan. 6 speech. “I didn’t hear a single word about — or anything that would trigger a reasonable person to believe that he was inciting— violence,” he said. “He even used the words ‘peaceful’ and ‘respectful.'”
Brock thinks that Trump “was caught by surprise at what happened” and was probably unaware of the segment of the crowd intent on violence. That was “a failure, frankly, on the intelligence that he should have been provided as president of the United States,” Brock said. “We shouldn’t be in a position where knuckleheads like Proud Boys and Oath Keepers can plan a disruptive violent event and it catches us by surprise.”
Of course, even if the president’s words meant to “incite” anything, the timing doesn’t work. Trump’s comments came too soon to have allowed time for the people at the rally to have made their way to the Capitol to affect the break-in. The break-in occurred too soon after Trump’s comments to have allowed the rioters to have gone from the rally to the Capitol to “obey” any demands he may have made to break into the building. This proves that the break-in was already planned and already in progress no matter what the president was saying.
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