John, The House select committee’s investigation into the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol has brought harrowing new details of the riot to light. At the committee’s first hearing on July 27, Capitol and D.C. police officers described fearing for their lives as they faced violent physical and verbal attacks from the insurrectionists. Bodycam footage showed rioters with chemical weapons, police shields, and blunt objects used to beat law enforcement, while calls to “hang Mike Pence” and “hunt [Members of Congress] down one by one” rang through the crowd. Some even claimed they would return with more guns and ammunition to finish what they started. “If those responsible are not held accountable...this will remain a cancer on our constitutional republic, undermining the peaceful transfer of power at the heart of our democratic system,” Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney said in the committee’s first hearing. The House investigation into January 6th is a good start, but the Department of Justice must go further and investigate President Trump’s role in inciting the insurrection and other alleged federal crimes. Sign the petition: Attorney General Merrick Garland must establish an independent Department of Justice task force to investigate all potential federal crimes committed by Trump and his associates. “[The evidence] reminds us that this threat has not gone away. It looms over our democracy like a dark cloud,” said Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson. If left unchecked, the federal crimes committed by those who incited the January 6th Capitol insurrection will not only be tacitly accepted, they will likely happen again. Every federal body with the power to address the events of January 6th has a responsibility to do so. That includes the Department of Justice. As Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn stated at the House select committee’s July 27 hearing: “If a hit man is hired and he kills somebody, the hit man goes to jail. But not only does the hit man go to jail, but the person who hired him does. There was an attack committed on January 6th and a hit man sent them. I want you to get to the bottom of that.” As the Department of Justice has long recognized, “the President is not above the law, and...he is ultimately accountable for his misconduct that occurs before, during, and after his service to the country.” To fulfill this principle, we are urging an independent task force at the DOJ to investigate — and, if appropriate, prosecute — President Trump and his associates. Sign the petition: The Department of Justice must investigate Trump and his associates for their abuses of power. In solidarity,
Free Speech For People | 
