From shortly after the election until at least 1/6, and arguably until the soldiers filled the streets of D.C. and made it clear they weren’t supporting a putsch, Donald J. Trump and his supporters tried to stage a coup. The efforts unfolded in court houses, in demonstrations, in federal government offices, in Congress, and finally with violence and a putsch attempt at the Capitol. There’s a lot left to learn. We need a full report, perpetrators held accountable, and our democratic systems strengthened so this doesn’t happen again.
For now, though, I want to focus on just two questions related to the 1/6 assault.
1. What happened with Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s panic buttons?
All we know is that Pressley’s staff found the panic buttons had been removed prior to 1/6. There had been a holiday and it’s not clear the last time they were checked and tested, who did it, was there a work order, was it related to the coup, was it random. We don’t know. We must know.
2. Who sent the facebook messages to a militia member detailing the locations of congressfolk during the coup? Read this:
“In charging papers, the FBI said that during the Capitol riot, Caldwell received Facebook messages from unspecified senders updating him of the location of lawmakers. When he posted a one-word message, “Inside,” he received exhortations and directions describing tunnels, doors and hallways, the FBI said.
Some messages, according to the FBI, included, “Tom all legislators are down in the Tunnels 3floors down,” and “Go through back house chamber doors facing N left down hallway down steps.” Another message read: “All members are in the tunnels under capital seal them in. Turn on gas,” the FBI added.
A few notes: the word “unspecified” seems like the FBI likely knows who sent them, but isn’t saying. And it’s possible that the person was just watching news reports and knew the layout of the capitol and sending messages. But it’s also possible that it was someone who was there.
We still don’t know the full story of what happened, what almost happened, and who was responsible. We need to know. For me, I’m waiting on answers to these two questions.
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