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The January 6th Report: Findings from the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The official report by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, featuring an exclusive foreword on the state of American democracy by Congressman Adam Schiff
On January 6, 2021, the United States came perilously close to losing its democracy. A mob instigated by the president of the United States violently attacked the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., seeking to disrupt the certification of the electors in the presidential election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history. The attack was the culmination of a plot organized and driven by a defeated president, attempting to remain in power through a complex web of deceit, intimidation, and violence.
This is the official report of the investigation into the attack—perhaps the most vital congressional investigation in American history—with exhibits, witness testimony, and an exclusive foreword by Congressman Adam Schiff, who offers critical insights into this harrowing chapter in American history.
On January 6, 2021, the United States came perilously close to losing its democracy. A mob instigated by the president of the United States violently attacked the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., seeking to disrupt the certification of the electors in the presidential election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history. The attack was the culmination of a plot organized and driven by a defeated president, attempting to remain in power through a complex web of deceit, intimidation, and violence.
This is the official report of the investigation into the attack—perhaps the most vital congressional investigation in American history—with exhibits, witness testimony, and an exclusive foreword by Congressman Adam Schiff, who offers critical insights into this harrowing chapter in American history.
864 pages, Paperback
Published January 6, 2023
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August 2, 2023
Shocking. Chilling. Heart-breaking. Unbelievable. Some armed with guns, stun guns, knives, batons, baseball bats, axes, and chemical sprays!
And I am not talking about a scene from a movie!
On January 6, 2021 we weren’t attacked by outside forces, but it was a unique attack on the United States of America – on our own Capitol by American citizens determined to overturn a free and fair election. What was worst, was this attack was provoked by the then 45th President of the United States of America.
My husband and I were riveted to our television screens. We couldn’t believe our eyes. What was going on? Was this real?
Even then not all was being revealed to us. It wasn’t until the January 6th Commission came together that we would see the truth of what this man inspired amongst his followers. A cult following of misguided individuals believing his election was stolen from him and thus asking these same persons to march on the Capitol and disrupt the process of the election proceedings.
But it wasn’t a peaceful march. It was an attack. People were maimed, hurt, trampled, and forever changed. And those people that were attacked – were law enforcement – good people, public servants, that were protecting the Capitol. The aftermath of what occurred to many, will be remembered.
Congressman Adam Schiff shares in the foreword,
“That Donald Trump was willing to so baldly lie about a matter at the heart of our democracy – whether the American people could rely on the results of a presidential election to ensure the peaceful transfer of power – now seems self-evident, even unremarkable, when we consider the violent attack on the Capitol…”
For weeks, the American public was given the opportunity to watch the proceedings live on television. The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States of America spent over 18 months working with a committee staff interviewing hundreds of witnesses and compiling thousands of documents to come together with a report to create a conclusion that would hopefully shock the country in to recognizing that what this one President did was unconscionable.
Mostly, it was a reminder of what it means when anybody who decides to run for office, they put their hand on their respective bibles, and they take that oath, and swear by the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
When that oath is not upheld what should happen to the individual who has not done so?
In her foreword, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, shared,
“The Select Committee…has succeeded in bringing clarity and demonstrating with painstaking detail the fragility of our Democracy.”
Bennie G. Thompson, Chairman, shared in his foreword,
“When I think back…I am frightened about the peril our democracy faced. …I also think about why the rioters were there. The rioters were inside the halls of Congress because …the then-President of the United States, told them to attack. Donald Trump summoned that mob…They put our democracy to the test. Trump’s mob came dangerously close. Courageous law enforcement officers put their lives on the line for hours while Trump sat in the WH, refusing to tell rioters to go home, while watching the assault on our republic unfold live on television. When it was clear the insurrection would fail, Trump finally called off the mob telling them “We love you.” Afterward, Congress was able to return to this Capitol Building and finish the job of counting the Electoral College votes and certifying the election. But who knows what would have happened if Trump’s mob had succeeded in stopping us from doing our job?”
There was much more the Chairman said in his foreword that needed to be heard, but there is something else he shared that really stood out.
Even today, we should be concerned as a nation – as a democracy to even consider that this person should ever be allowed near our Oval Office again. He said…
“There are people who want to take America backward, not toward some imagined prior greatness, but toward repression. These are people who want to roll back what we’ve accomplished. …Our country has come too far to allow a defeated President to turn himself into a successful tyrant by upending our democratic institutions, fomenting violence, and as I saw it, opening the door to those in our country whose hatred and bigotry threaten equality and justice for all Americans.”
Vice Chair Liz Cheney who probably became the most famous for being beaten back by her Republican peers, still held her head high in her beliefs and patriotism. She shared in her foreword,
“From the beginning, Donald Trump’s fraud allegations were concocted nonsense, designed to prey upon the patriotism of millions of men and women who love our country… (Describing Trump’s unwillingness to stop the attack on the Capitol)
In addition to being unlawful, as described in this report, this was an utter moral failure – and a clear dereliction of duty. …No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. He is unfit for any office.”
LA Times writer, Miles Taylor interviewed, Former Republican congressman Reid Ribble on July 9, this year. Ribble told him of a recent test that he did. Ribble was a founder of the Tea Party movement, though he was disillusioned by Trump. Speaking to a group of several hundred churchgoers in Wisconsin, he decided to poll the congregation.
“How many of you believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump?” Ribble asked.
A sea of hands went up. It was almost the entire room. Ribble disguised his shock by shifting to a second question, which he hoped would cause most of the hands to go down.
“And how many of you believe Donald Trump is still the rightful president of the United States?”
Some hands dropped, but roughly half of the room kept their arms in the air. It was worse than he had realized.
“Populism — in almost all of its historical iterations — tends toward authoritarianism,” Ribble told Taylor. He continued, “The test with the congregation reminded him of another dark period in history: pre-Nazi Germany. In the 1920s, Adolf Hitler rose to power on a Big Lie. He alleged that Germany had been on the path to victory in World War I, but that its leaders surrendered prematurely. Victory was seized from Germans by corrupt politicians, Hitler said. The people had been “stabbed in the back.”
In reality, the German military had been defeated and the country had no hope of winning the war; nevertheless, millions believed Hitler’s lie amid the harsh conditions of postwar life, from political gridlock to inflation. Anxious Germans welcomed the rise of a disruptor who could upend the institutions they believed had failed them, paving the way for Nazism. “He created a whole class of victims,” Ribble said, “and then he told them he would vanquish the villain.”
Taylor concludes that Ribble worries Trump’s lies have created an opening for another dangerous leader to rise — or for Trump’s return to the Oval Office. And that the untruths have created an angry and restless electorate.
Let’s consider this…
What Ribble shares is being stated in 2023, 2 years after what occurred at the Capitol. People continue to follow 45 like a cult revering a religious god-like leader.
And Vice Chair Liz Cheney said that Trump was “unfit for any office.” So why aren’t people seeing this truth?
What the January 6th Commission Report shares should concern All Americans.
The January 6th Commission report, all 814 pages includes: the Foreword; Executive Summary; the Narrative – The Chapters: The Big Lie, The I Just Want to Find 11,780 Votes, The Fake Electors and The President of the Senate Strategy, Just Call It Corrupt and Leave the Rest to Me, A Coup in Search of a Legal Theory, Be There Will Be Wild, 187 Minutes of Dereliction, Analysis of the Attack; The Recommendations; and, the Appendices.
The recommendations include criminal referrals to the Department of Justice (DOJ) which are justified.
It is hoped, at least by this reader, that eventually the DOJ will bring charges against Trump. And that he will be convicted. The evidence is clearly here.
Obviously, this is not a book one reads cover to cover. It is a tremendous resource for the DOJ.
The televised hearings if you watched them were riveting, compelling and well-produced.
This is a well-documented report of the work of that committee.
No matter what side of the fence you were on, what happened that day, should never have happened. It should never happen again. And the only way to stop it, is to make sure he never happens again. Or anyone of his kind.
Update: It is fitting to note that on August 1, 2023, as shared by The Washington Post columnist, Jennifer Rubin, “a federal grand jury indicted former president Donald Trump for his role in the 2021 Capitol insurrection. Those concerned with the fate of our democracy should appreciate the magnitude of the charges laid out in the indictment. All Americans should savor a sense of relief that the Justice Department is seeking to hold everyone involved in the coup plot accountable under the law.”
Special Counsel Jack Smith defended the rule of law and in many respects made history today with this inditement.
Jennifer Rubin goes on to share:
“Trump is charged under Title 18, Section 371, conspiracy to defraud the United States; Section 1512, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; and Section 241, conspiracy to “to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person … in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.” Six co-conspirators were not named but they appear to include former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and attorneys John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Cheseboro and Rudy Giuliani, who assisted in the phony elector scheme. The sixth is described as a political consultant. Smith identified seven states in which the fake elector scheme operated.”
In another The Washington Post article on August 1, 2023, journalist Rachel Weiner, shared that:
“Conspiracy to defraud the government is punishable by up to five years in prison. Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstructing an official proceeding are both punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The civil rights law carries a sentence of up to ten years in prison — unless a person was killed, in which case the maximum punishment is the death penalty. Prosecutors are not arguing that Trump’s actions led to any of the deaths that occurred during or after the Jan. 6 attack.”
The question becomes, will justice be served? Will the people who support him finally wake up and see him for who he really is?
Bottom line the Jan. 6 committee made this week’s jaw-dropping developments possible. Democracy is in their debt.
And I am not talking about a scene from a movie!
On January 6, 2021 we weren’t attacked by outside forces, but it was a unique attack on the United States of America – on our own Capitol by American citizens determined to overturn a free and fair election. What was worst, was this attack was provoked by the then 45th President of the United States of America.
My husband and I were riveted to our television screens. We couldn’t believe our eyes. What was going on? Was this real?
Even then not all was being revealed to us. It wasn’t until the January 6th Commission came together that we would see the truth of what this man inspired amongst his followers. A cult following of misguided individuals believing his election was stolen from him and thus asking these same persons to march on the Capitol and disrupt the process of the election proceedings.
But it wasn’t a peaceful march. It was an attack. People were maimed, hurt, trampled, and forever changed. And those people that were attacked – were law enforcement – good people, public servants, that were protecting the Capitol. The aftermath of what occurred to many, will be remembered.
Congressman Adam Schiff shares in the foreword,
“That Donald Trump was willing to so baldly lie about a matter at the heart of our democracy – whether the American people could rely on the results of a presidential election to ensure the peaceful transfer of power – now seems self-evident, even unremarkable, when we consider the violent attack on the Capitol…”
For weeks, the American public was given the opportunity to watch the proceedings live on television. The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States of America spent over 18 months working with a committee staff interviewing hundreds of witnesses and compiling thousands of documents to come together with a report to create a conclusion that would hopefully shock the country in to recognizing that what this one President did was unconscionable.
Mostly, it was a reminder of what it means when anybody who decides to run for office, they put their hand on their respective bibles, and they take that oath, and swear by the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
When that oath is not upheld what should happen to the individual who has not done so?
In her foreword, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, shared,
“The Select Committee…has succeeded in bringing clarity and demonstrating with painstaking detail the fragility of our Democracy.”
Bennie G. Thompson, Chairman, shared in his foreword,
“When I think back…I am frightened about the peril our democracy faced. …I also think about why the rioters were there. The rioters were inside the halls of Congress because …the then-President of the United States, told them to attack. Donald Trump summoned that mob…They put our democracy to the test. Trump’s mob came dangerously close. Courageous law enforcement officers put their lives on the line for hours while Trump sat in the WH, refusing to tell rioters to go home, while watching the assault on our republic unfold live on television. When it was clear the insurrection would fail, Trump finally called off the mob telling them “We love you.” Afterward, Congress was able to return to this Capitol Building and finish the job of counting the Electoral College votes and certifying the election. But who knows what would have happened if Trump’s mob had succeeded in stopping us from doing our job?”
There was much more the Chairman said in his foreword that needed to be heard, but there is something else he shared that really stood out.
Even today, we should be concerned as a nation – as a democracy to even consider that this person should ever be allowed near our Oval Office again. He said…
“There are people who want to take America backward, not toward some imagined prior greatness, but toward repression. These are people who want to roll back what we’ve accomplished. …Our country has come too far to allow a defeated President to turn himself into a successful tyrant by upending our democratic institutions, fomenting violence, and as I saw it, opening the door to those in our country whose hatred and bigotry threaten equality and justice for all Americans.”
Vice Chair Liz Cheney who probably became the most famous for being beaten back by her Republican peers, still held her head high in her beliefs and patriotism. She shared in her foreword,
“From the beginning, Donald Trump’s fraud allegations were concocted nonsense, designed to prey upon the patriotism of millions of men and women who love our country… (Describing Trump’s unwillingness to stop the attack on the Capitol)
In addition to being unlawful, as described in this report, this was an utter moral failure – and a clear dereliction of duty. …No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. He is unfit for any office.”
LA Times writer, Miles Taylor interviewed, Former Republican congressman Reid Ribble on July 9, this year. Ribble told him of a recent test that he did. Ribble was a founder of the Tea Party movement, though he was disillusioned by Trump. Speaking to a group of several hundred churchgoers in Wisconsin, he decided to poll the congregation.
“How many of you believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump?” Ribble asked.
A sea of hands went up. It was almost the entire room. Ribble disguised his shock by shifting to a second question, which he hoped would cause most of the hands to go down.
“And how many of you believe Donald Trump is still the rightful president of the United States?”
Some hands dropped, but roughly half of the room kept their arms in the air. It was worse than he had realized.
“Populism — in almost all of its historical iterations — tends toward authoritarianism,” Ribble told Taylor. He continued, “The test with the congregation reminded him of another dark period in history: pre-Nazi Germany. In the 1920s, Adolf Hitler rose to power on a Big Lie. He alleged that Germany had been on the path to victory in World War I, but that its leaders surrendered prematurely. Victory was seized from Germans by corrupt politicians, Hitler said. The people had been “stabbed in the back.”
In reality, the German military had been defeated and the country had no hope of winning the war; nevertheless, millions believed Hitler’s lie amid the harsh conditions of postwar life, from political gridlock to inflation. Anxious Germans welcomed the rise of a disruptor who could upend the institutions they believed had failed them, paving the way for Nazism. “He created a whole class of victims,” Ribble said, “and then he told them he would vanquish the villain.”
Taylor concludes that Ribble worries Trump’s lies have created an opening for another dangerous leader to rise — or for Trump’s return to the Oval Office. And that the untruths have created an angry and restless electorate.
Let’s consider this…
What Ribble shares is being stated in 2023, 2 years after what occurred at the Capitol. People continue to follow 45 like a cult revering a religious god-like leader.
And Vice Chair Liz Cheney said that Trump was “unfit for any office.” So why aren’t people seeing this truth?
What the January 6th Commission Report shares should concern All Americans.
The January 6th Commission report, all 814 pages includes: the Foreword; Executive Summary; the Narrative – The Chapters: The Big Lie, The I Just Want to Find 11,780 Votes, The Fake Electors and The President of the Senate Strategy, Just Call It Corrupt and Leave the Rest to Me, A Coup in Search of a Legal Theory, Be There Will Be Wild, 187 Minutes of Dereliction, Analysis of the Attack; The Recommendations; and, the Appendices.
The recommendations include criminal referrals to the Department of Justice (DOJ) which are justified.
It is hoped, at least by this reader, that eventually the DOJ will bring charges against Trump. And that he will be convicted. The evidence is clearly here.
Obviously, this is not a book one reads cover to cover. It is a tremendous resource for the DOJ.
The televised hearings if you watched them were riveting, compelling and well-produced.
This is a well-documented report of the work of that committee.
No matter what side of the fence you were on, what happened that day, should never have happened. It should never happen again. And the only way to stop it, is to make sure he never happens again. Or anyone of his kind.
Update: It is fitting to note that on August 1, 2023, as shared by The Washington Post columnist, Jennifer Rubin, “a federal grand jury indicted former president Donald Trump for his role in the 2021 Capitol insurrection. Those concerned with the fate of our democracy should appreciate the magnitude of the charges laid out in the indictment. All Americans should savor a sense of relief that the Justice Department is seeking to hold everyone involved in the coup plot accountable under the law.”
Special Counsel Jack Smith defended the rule of law and in many respects made history today with this inditement.
Jennifer Rubin goes on to share:
“Trump is charged under Title 18, Section 371, conspiracy to defraud the United States; Section 1512, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; and Section 241, conspiracy to “to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person … in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.” Six co-conspirators were not named but they appear to include former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and attorneys John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Cheseboro and Rudy Giuliani, who assisted in the phony elector scheme. The sixth is described as a political consultant. Smith identified seven states in which the fake elector scheme operated.”
In another The Washington Post article on August 1, 2023, journalist Rachel Weiner, shared that:
“Conspiracy to defraud the government is punishable by up to five years in prison. Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstructing an official proceeding are both punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The civil rights law carries a sentence of up to ten years in prison — unless a person was killed, in which case the maximum punishment is the death penalty. Prosecutors are not arguing that Trump’s actions led to any of the deaths that occurred during or after the Jan. 6 attack.”
The question becomes, will justice be served? Will the people who support him finally wake up and see him for who he really is?
Bottom line the Jan. 6 committee made this week’s jaw-dropping developments possible. Democracy is in their debt.
January 23, 2023
I have to say, this report is a master class on how to present an argument and facts to a hostile audience. It's a shame much of that hostile audience won't read it.
Why is it a master class - there is a chart that details when Trump was told something and then the lie he used about the next day. There is a list of witnesses with notes indicating who was a Republican and who was a Democrat. The whole sequence of events is broken down step by step.
I admit, I laughed each time a photo of the press conference at Four Seasons Landscaping popped up.
The scary part is that some of the people responsible for what happened or who excused it afterwards, are now the ones who are in charge of the House (at least in theory).
Why is it a master class - there is a chart that details when Trump was told something and then the lie he used about the next day. There is a list of witnesses with notes indicating who was a Republican and who was a Democrat. The whole sequence of events is broken down step by step.
I admit, I laughed each time a photo of the press conference at Four Seasons Landscaping popped up.
The scary part is that some of the people responsible for what happened or who excused it afterwards, are now the ones who are in charge of the House (at least in theory).
December 30, 2022
Favorite Quote = “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” -Voltaire (as quoted by Senator Jamie Raskin on 06 JAN 2021)
September 25, 2023
This was a faster than expected read, despite the length.
This Congressional report clearly lays out the before, during and after of the January 6th attack on the Capitol through testimony and documented evidence.
Truly frightening how many elected officials colluded on a plan to repeatedly lie to the American public and how many nationalist militia groups, conspiracy theorists and gaslit randos joined together to change an election outcome they just didn't agree with.
The digital version of this report links to thousands of hours of video and testimony. A must read for anyone interested in the who's, what's and whys of January 6th
This Congressional report clearly lays out the before, during and after of the January 6th attack on the Capitol through testimony and documented evidence.
Truly frightening how many elected officials colluded on a plan to repeatedly lie to the American public and how many nationalist militia groups, conspiracy theorists and gaslit randos joined together to change an election outcome they just didn't agree with.
The digital version of this report links to thousands of hours of video and testimony. A must read for anyone interested in the who's, what's and whys of January 6th
May 27, 2024
Please read former President Trump’s 2:24 pm tweet from Jan 6, as the capitol was under attack and three people at that time have lost their lives.
May 26, 2023
If anybody is still not convinced that trump, Guilliani, and Eastman knew that their activities were illegal and that they were going to cause a riot on January 6th, then this book is a must read. The evidence is damning, starting from the executive summary on through the meticulous and well documented investigation.
Trump is not always the stooge he makes himself out to be. He had all the intelligence and insight that he could ever want telling him that his actions were illegal, and he went through with it anyways. Simply put, trump made the literal swamp that DC is built on even swampier.
Justice must be served. Myself and many other people will lose hope that the system works if they give trump and his cronies a pass.
Do whatever you can to read this book, even if it takes months or years. I listened to the Muller report on an audio book if that’s helpful as well.
Trump is not always the stooge he makes himself out to be. He had all the intelligence and insight that he could ever want telling him that his actions were illegal, and he went through with it anyways. Simply put, trump made the literal swamp that DC is built on even swampier.
Justice must be served. Myself and many other people will lose hope that the system works if they give trump and his cronies a pass.
Do whatever you can to read this book, even if it takes months or years. I listened to the Muller report on an audio book if that’s helpful as well.
Read
September 9, 2023Lots of unlikeable characters.
January 14, 2023
The report was good as far as it went, adding more information to what was shared in the hearings, but I would have liked to see more focus on the role of the RNC and GOP leaders, including members of Congress, as well as some exploration of the White Supremacist and Christian nationalist beliefs driving many of the participants in the insurrection.
February 23, 2023
5/5 stars. Important historical document to inform of the insurrection committed by the then president on january 6
February 26, 2023
This is a surprisingly good read. I was expecting a dry, legalistic exposition of facts, findings, analysis and recommendations, but this report is something quite different. After watching all of the televised committee meetings I didn't think there would be much more to learn. There is so much more here, detail after detail, name after name, background, exact minute to minute narratives of events. Every statement backed up and documented by dozens of pages of detailed footnotes. The scope and breadth of information is remarkable, up to date as of the time of publishing, and thoroughly convincing as to the truth. This reads like a highly polished political thriller by a major author. It is indeed a real "page turner." The unnamed staff members that put this together have done an amazing and well organized job. Their coordination of the narrative and the documentation is genius. How they ever got this finished and out to the public so fast is amazing. The content is compelling and often frightening when you realize the extent of the currents of hate and potential violence trying to undermine our society. Unlike a work of fiction, however, this story is incomplete. The final act is missing, because it hasn't happened yet. We do learn the fates of some of the "foot soldiers" that have so far been sentenced, but there are many more. Someday, soon I hope, there will be a second volume detailing the accountability and fate of the leaders of this insurrection, including the President and his Chief of Staff, his attorneys, his allies in the Department of Justice and in the media, and all those in congress, House and Senate, who continued to challenge the electoral vote and to double down on the big lie.
There is one other disturbing problem brought to light in a short chapter near the end of this book that needs further investigation and explanation. The delay in deploying the national guard to aid the overwhelmed capital and DC metropolitan police seems to have occurred because of shear incompetence among its leadership. It looks like no-one was willing to give the order, even though the troops were packed and ready. A number of officers named in the book found one excuse after another to try to deflect the responsibility to someone else. I want to know more about that!!
There is one other disturbing problem brought to light in a short chapter near the end of this book that needs further investigation and explanation. The delay in deploying the national guard to aid the overwhelmed capital and DC metropolitan police seems to have occurred because of shear incompetence among its leadership. It looks like no-one was willing to give the order, even though the troops were packed and ready. A number of officers named in the book found one excuse after another to try to deflect the responsibility to someone else. I want to know more about that!!
July 12, 2024
The January 6th Report: Findings from the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol by The January 6 Select Committee is an interesting read based on the findings of the investigation into the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol to interfere with Congress doing its job of certifying the 2020 election. It is sometimes a bit dry and legalistic, but it attempts to create a record that is accessible for people to understand the findings and facts discovered through the Select Committee's investigation. There are a lot of footnotes detailing where the evidence originated for the findings the Committee made. The book would be much shorter without the extensive documentation in the footnotes, but those footnotes are important. There is some repetition, but that repetition was necessary because various acts and words spoken applied to different aspects of the attack and what lead up to it. I found The January 6th Report a worthwhile read and took my time reading it to try to better understand what happened and how it came to happen while looking for a way to avoid a repeat.
July 27, 2023
4.5 stars. But I rounded up, because it deserved more than 4 stars. Dense? Yes. Important? Absolutely. Long? Also yes. But so, so important. I remember watching the events of January 6th live. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. However, believing in the importance of gaining all information, I watched various news outlets. I also followed what Congress, and other politicians, said and more importantly, did. When I learned of the committee to investigate January 6th, I was glad. I wanted to know what they knew. I watched the hearings that were aired. And once I learned that the full report would be released in a book, I knew I had to get it. Because I assumed, rightly as it turns out, that the book would have more information than what was presented in the hearings. This book is important reading.
April 4, 2023
Absolutely incredible. A meticulously thorough report covering the two months after the 2020 presidential election and how Trump and his allies tried to illegally overturn the results. How the Select Committee was able to compile all of this information and turn it into a cohesive narrative is just astounding.
More thoughts, reflections, and favorite moments here. I'll also soon be adding in-depth summaries of the entire report, just in case you'd like to know more about it but don't have the time to read all 814 pages.
The January 6th Report Summaries, Part 1
The January 6th Report Summaries, Part 2
More thoughts, reflections, and favorite moments here. I'll also soon be adding in-depth summaries of the entire report, just in case you'd like to know more about it but don't have the time to read all 814 pages.
The January 6th Report Summaries, Part 1
The January 6th Report Summaries, Part 2
May 22, 2023
I'm not a fan of Trump, but this book goes overboard in redundancy about Trump's behavior from November 2022 until after the attack on the Capitol. The "Executive Summary" is almost 200 pages long and the book itself is over 800 pages in length. There are some in-depth interviews and the information is condemning toward Trump. I'm just not sure what took over two years and why someone hasn't filed charges against Trump for what happened in Arizona and Georgia, much less in Washington DC.
April 15, 2023
This is a must read for anyone concerned about the events before during and after January 6th. Though some of the reporting is repetitive this report is comprehensive in assigning blame both to former president and his supporters both by action and perhaps more damning, wilful neglect. Make sure to stick around for the Appendices which explain in excruciating detail why the bureaucratic response was so slow to the attack on the Capitol itself.
April 21, 2023
A rip-roaring adventure of abhorrence, malignancy, and downright foolishness. Pure misery. A journey into the rotting heart of America. Another volume in a colossal library of unread books written for unlettered heathens. A hatred kiln. It's a long read, but I recommend it—even after watching the hearings in real time. It's a government document, so most people will dismiss it as pure evil... but most people are clearly out of their minds.
June 8, 2023
The new leaders of the House can't afford for this must-read to be read, so they deleted it from the House website as soon as they took office. You can still get the free pdf download at:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/G...
It is an easy read in spite of its length, full of interest and very clearly written.
Be sure not to miss Appendix 4, about the opportunity seized by foreign enemies of using lies to split our country apart.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/G...
It is an easy read in spite of its length, full of interest and very clearly written.
Be sure not to miss Appendix 4, about the opportunity seized by foreign enemies of using lies to split our country apart.
April 5, 2023
The Januray 6th report presents all the evidence from the Select Commitee's investigation and hearings. Reading it was similar to a court case, where the prosecution proves their case from every angle. Though a lengthy read, we'll worth the time to understand what happened leading up to, during, and after January 6, 2021.
February 3, 2025
Thought it would be dense but it was very readable. Repetitive at points but I didn’t mind reading some quotes twice. Read this in 2025 as this event was being whitewashed and rioters were pardoned and released from jail- glad I have a deeper knowledge of just how black of a day this was in American history and how bad Trump’s leadership was over that two month stretch.
July 2, 2023
I stopped halfway. So sad to listen to the criminal horror show!
July 25, 2023
Surprisingly clear to read and a very clear path of logic. Clear argument and overall showed a lot of context around that event.
October 22, 2023
How I wish I could get my husband to read this.
February 1, 2025
Horrifying the events that were planned and carried out during the attempted coup at the Capitol; however, it is even worse that those who committed those acts were pardoned by Donald Trump.
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