There’s no question that there would not have been a riot at the U.S. Capitol were it not for President Donald Trump.
The Jan. 6, 2021, riot depended on the presence on Capitol Hill of a lot of people who believed that Trump should remain in power, either because they thought the election was unfairly determined or they didn’t want Joe Biden to be inaugurated. For weeks before the riot, Trump had encouraged his supporters to come to Washington that day and, for months prior, had repeatedly made false claims against the sanctity of the election process.
On the morning of the riot, Trump spoke to the tens of thousands of supporters he’d summoned, reinforced their grievances about his imminent departure and its causes, and then told them how and why to head to the Capitol. After the violence began, Trump let it continue without interruption.
The House select committee investigating the riot has spent the past few weeks publicly elevating the evidence that makes this pattern obvious and contextualizing the riot within Trump’s broader effort to retain power. It has been adding useful complexity to the picture, though at times risking making things more complicated than they actually are.
What Americans have taken away from the recent public discussion about the riot spurred by the committee’s work, it seems, is that Trump should face criminal charges for his role in spurring it.
There have been several polls conducted since the riot that have measured the extent to which...
PRESTONSBURG, Ky. — A third high-ranking employee has filed suit against Mountain Comprehensive Care Center, claiming she was fired for not following orders to submit false billing codes. Kristy St...