The most important happening in the last week of the Trump Administration is that something did NOT happen. The outgoing president did not pardon any of the persons who attacked the Capital.
This cleared the way for the Justice Department to enforce the laws against insurrection and get a clearer idea of what transpired before and during the attack on January 6. This is important for several reasons.
- Homegrown terrorism is a growing threat. We need to find out how it may have contributed to the violence in the Capitol.
- A large minority of Americans think that the election was marred by fraud. Former President Trump still claims he won. We need clear answers and an impartial investigation is essential to persuade the public, if indeed the vote counting was honest or not. Our democracy depends on electoral integrity.
- Some of the suspects who have been charged with crimes at the Capitol claim they were following the orders of the Commander-in-Chief. They fully expected him to fulfil his declaration at the morning rally that he would be with them on the march on the Capitol. Several have said they expected to be pardoned by Trump.
He left office with no pardons for those who stormed the Capitol. This removed what could have been an impediment to investigating what happened.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives has talked about Congressional investigations. What is needed is not just a bipartisan study, but a nonpartisan one by persons of proven integrity with no personal stake in the outcome. We all have a stake in learning the facts.
There has been a lot of talk about fake news, fraud, and conspiracies. Let’s get a presidential commission to dig deeply into what happened.
