Capitol riot panel seeks information from Republican lawmakers

The US House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan 6, 2021, Capitol attack by Donald Trump’s supporters requested interviews with three Republican lawmakers, saying they have information about the planning of events that day. In a press release yesterday, the Jan 6 Select Committee said it was seeking voluntary co-operation from three House Republicans: Representatives Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks and Ronny Jackson. Biggs, Brooks and Jackson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Representatives Benny Thompson and Liz Cheney, who lead the Select Committee, said in a statement that their colleagues have a patriotic duty to cooperate with the investigation. “The Select Committee has learned that several of our colleagues have information relevant to our investigation into the facts, circumstances, and causes of January 6th,” Thompson and Cheney said.“As we work to provide answers to the American people about that day, we consider it a patriotic duty for all witnesses to co-operate.”Whether the three lawmakers will voluntarily cooperate with the panel remains to be seen. Earlier this year, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy rejected demands by the committee for testimony, saying it does not serve “any legislative purpose.”Brooks, an Alabama Republican, had a falling out with Trump in March after Trump accused him of not doing enough to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. After Trump withdrew his endorsement of Brooks’ struggling campaign, Brooks issued a statement in March accusing Trump of making unconstitutional demands to rescind the 2020 election results.“President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a New special election for the presidency,” Brooks said. “As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict,” he added.In late March, a US. judge ruled that former president Donald Trump “more likely than not” committed a felony by trying to pressure his vice-president to obstruct Congress and overturn his election defeat on Jan 6, 2021.Ex-New York cop found guilty A former New York City police officer was found guilty yesterday of assaulting a Washington, DC, police officer during the Jan 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, handing prosecutors another win at trial, a Justice Department spokesman confirmed. A federal jury in the District of Columbia rejected arguments by Thomas Webster, 56, that he was acting in self-defence when he struck a Washington officer with a flagpole and tackled him.A spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office said Webster will be sentenced on Sept 2. Webster was the fourth Capitol riot defendant to take his case to a jury trial. The Justice Department has secured convictions in all four of those cases. Of the four defendants to face a jury so far, Webster was the first to argue he was acting in self defence. Webster took the witness stand during the week-long trial. He told jurors that the officer had “incited” him by hitting him in the face. “I felt like I was dealing with a rogue cop,” Webster testified during the trial.Prosecutors had rejected Webster’s defence and portrayed the District of Columbia police officer, Noah Rathbun, as the victim in the altercation. Prosecutors said Rathbun made physical contact with Webster to create distance between the two men, who were on opposing side of a police barricade eventually overrun by Trump supporters.About 800 people are charged with a role in the Capitol riot, which disrupted a joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s presidential election victory and sent lawmakers scrambling for safety. About 250 have pleaded guilty so far.Book revelationsDonald Trump vented fury at protesters outside the White House in 2020, saying “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” according to then defence secretary Mark Esper. In a new book, excerpts of which were reported yesterday, Esper recalled sitting in the Oval Office with “the president red faced and complaining loudly about the protests under way in Washington” over the police killing of a Black man.“Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump is quoted as saying in a preview of the book seen by the Axios news website. The protests, which were marked by violence as protesters clashed with security forces, were part of a nationwide wave of demonstrations in the wake of the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.