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Peggy Noonan: “These are the reasons what happened on 1/6 can’t be allowed to become normal. One way to discourage that is to see that all involved pay a steep practical and reputational price—public exposure, shame and, when a crime can be proved, prison time. To determine who deserves this requires investigation.”
“Indignation is a form of loyalty. You protect the things you love.”
She concludes: “Nail this story down. Nail everyone involved. Then, and only then, move on.”
In private discussions, former President Donald Trump has told people close to him that some of the Police officers speaking out about the Capitol attack strike him as weak and as “pussies,” the Daily Beast reports.
Daily Beast: “Michael Fanone, one of the many cops who fended off rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, said he expected the largest police union in the country, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), to come out strongly in defense of him and fellow officers. The cops who stared down violent pro-Trump mobs that day have not only had to deal with their own physical and emotional injuries, but have also endured criticism from Republican lawmakers, hostile civilians, and even efforts by the former president to downplay the seriousness of the January riot.”
“But in an interview on CNN Wednesday, Fanone—fresh from testifying to Congress on Tuesday about his experience at the Capitol—said he received no outreach from the union immediately after Jan. 6. Even though the D.C. Metro cop has been a dues-paying member of the FOP since he first became a police officer, he said, it wasn’t until six months after the riot that he spoke with FOP President Patrick Yoes to voice his concerns about a lack of support from the union.”
NBC News: Fanone received threatening, expletive-laced voicemail as he testified about Jan. 6.
“A Virginia police officer who was fired after storming the US Capitol was jailed Wednesday by a federal judge because he ordered a large stockpile of guns and ammunition after his January arrest, and posted online in support of future political violence,” CNN reports.
Thomas Robertson “was released in January but re-arrested last month after investigators said they found a rifle and bomb-making material in his home, and also learned that he recently bought another 37 guns on the Internet.”
“The Republican Party’s self-portrayal as champions of law and order collided with searing testimony Tuesday from police officers themselves. Officers described in vivid, personal terms the terror of defending the U.S. Capitol from violent Trump-inspired insurrectionists on Jan. 6,” the AP reports.
“Will it matter in next year’s elections?”
“Heading into the 2022 midterms, the GOP is seeking political advantage in Americans’ concern about rising crime nationwide. But the police testimony at Tuesday’s debut hearing of the congressional panel investigating the insurrection could undercut that effort.”
Associated Press: “It was 11:30 a.m. on March 19, 2015, and the klansmen were celebrating what they thought was a successful murder in Florida. But the FBI had gotten wind of the murder plot. A confidential informant had infiltrated the group, and his recordings provide a rare, detailed look at the inner workings of a modern klan cell and a domestic terrorism probe.”
“That investigation would unearth another secret: An unknown number of klansmen were working inside the Florida Department of Corrections, with significant power over inmates, Black and white.”
A criminal complaint charges a man sent numerous violent emails to Dr. Anthony Fauci, threatening to break every bone in his “disgusting elf skull” and sew his scalp onto a rat, while warning that the famed public health researcher would soon be “hunted, tortured, beaten, and enslaved,” the Daily Beast reports.
ProPublica: “Bots filing bogus applications in bulk, teams of fraudsters in foreign countries making phony claims, online forums peddling how-to advice on identity theft: Inside the infrastructure of perhaps the largest fraud wave in history.”
Charlie Gerow, a Republican who announced his candidacy for Pennsylvania governor last month, said that he is cooperating with a police investigation into an accident in which a motorcyclist was killed, and that shut down the Pennsylvania Turnpike for seven hours, WPXI reports.
Gerow apparently drove for several miles with the motorcycle stuck to the front of his car.
“Amid a jump in violent crime in this and other cities nationwide, Detroit residents report being much more worried about public safety than about police misconduct,” a new USA Today/Suffolk University/Detroit Free Press Poll finds.
“By an overwhelming 9-1, they would feel safer with more cops on the street, not fewer.”
Heavy metal guitarist Jon Schaffer, who pleaded guilty to charges related to the Capitol riot, had feces thrown at him and faced death threats during a stint at an Indiana jail, the Daily Beast reports.
“A federal magistrate judge on Friday ordered Tom Barrack, a longtime associate of former President Donald Trump who was indicted earlier this week on charges of illegal foreign lobbying, released from jail pending trial, freeing him on a bail package that includes a $250 million bond secured by $5 million in cash,” CNN reports.
Jacob Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman” who took part in the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, is negotiating a possible plea deal with prosecutors after prison psychologists found he suffers from various mental illnesses, Reuters reports.
David Graham: “This fear about crime has potentially large implications. President Joe Biden, eager to show that the White House is paying attention, launched a series of crime-fighting initiatives focused on guns last month.”
“But ask Americans how things look in their own communities, and in survey after survey, they evince much less worry.”
“In a recent USA Today/Ipsos poll, 62% of Americans believed (correctly) that crime had gotten worse in the United States, but a plurality felt that their own community was no more dangerous.”
Punchbowl News: “Nearly a month after GOP and Democratic negotiators said they’d reached an ‘agreement on a framework addressing the major issues,’ the discussions have stalled out, according to the sources we spoke to on Wednesday.”
“Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Tim Scott (R-SC) haven’t made any breakthroughs, despite positive public comments from both. The news coverage has also dwindled. Much more of the focus now is on rising crime rates, not fixing policing, and the politics look to have shifted as well.”
“One source close to the issue said the talks are on life support, and the ventilator isn’t working.”
“One of the men accused of plotting to blow up the California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento came within minutes of winning his release from jail Tuesday, but the deal fell through after his wife changed her mind about taking responsibility for him while he awaits trial,” the Sacramento Bee reports.
Thomas Robertson, a former police officer in Virginia accused of taking part in the Capitol riot, was back in court arguing that he shouldn’t lose his bond after police found a huge stash of guns and explosives at his home, the Roanoke Times reports.
Prosecutors found multiple guns, a pipe bomb, a grenade, and gun silencers despite a judge banning Robertson from owning weapons while out on bond.
“A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent has been arrested for allegedly participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump,” CNBC reports.
“The agent, Mark Sami Ibrahim, allegedly flashed his badge and a DEA-issued handgun during the riot while posing for photos with those items.”
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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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