At the opening of the January 6 Committee hearing on Thursday, Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) claimed falsely that former President Trump was indifferent to the “beating and killing” of police officers.
“Donald Trump ignored and disregarded the desperate pleas of his own family, including Ivanka and Don Jr.,” Thompson stated. “Even though he was the only person in the world who could call off the mob he sent to the Capitol, he could not be moved to rise from his dining room table and walk a few steps down the White House hallway into the press briefing room, where cameras were anxiously and desperately waiting to carry his message to the armed and violent mob savagely beating and killing law enforcement officers revenging [sic] the Capitol and hunting down the Vice President and various members of Congress. He could not be moved.”
All false. In fact, of the five people who died in connection with the chaos, only one, protester and Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, was killed, shot by a law enforcement officers. Three other protesters died of unrelated causes. One Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, passed away after January 6 from natural causes.
Thompson also claimed falsely that Trump “sent” a violent mob to the Capitol; in fact, the chaos began even before Trump told the crowd at his “Save America” rally a mile away “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Thompson also claimed falsely that the protesters were “armed.”
To sum up, the Chairman of the January 6 Committee did nothing but lie about his political opponents and the events of that date.