Despite a massive and unprecedented nationwide FBI manhunt for rioters (or anyone, violent or not) involved in the January 6 Capitol siege, not really being paralleled by anything similar for violent BLM rioters, FBI Director Christopher Wray insists the FBI isn’t being tougher on the Jan. 6 rioters. (RELATED: Massive Magnetically-locked Doors to Capitol Rotunda Opened From Inside During Jan. 6 Riot – Defense Attorney)
However, many observers familiar with the Bureau’s aggressive investigation of the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 see a huge disparity with its and the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ’s) more lackluster response to violence and unrest by Black Lives Matter (BLM) rioters across the country during the spring and summer of 2020. (RELATED: The Most Egregious District Attorneys in America: Self-Proclaimed Saviors of America’s Criminals)
This is especially true concerning the months-long attacks by BLM, Antifa and other extremists on the U.S. federal courthouse and law enforcement officers in Portland, Oregon, and the violent attacks on local and federal police and property across from the White House in May and June 2020.
The latter violent riot in D.C., I personally witnessed and reported on at the time.
Politico reports:
Speaking in California, Wray offered his most detailed public rebuttal yet to critiques of the bureau put forward in recent months by some Republican lawmakers and other allies of former President Donald Trump, as well as attorneys for those charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot.
“We have one standard, which is: I don’t care whether you’re upset about an election or upset at our criminal justice system,” Wray said during an appearance at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on Monday night. “Whatever it is you’re upset about, there’s a right way and a wrong way to express your being upset in this country and violence — violence against law enforcement, destruction of property — is not it. …That’s what the rule of law is about.”
Many wish this were true.
The FBI chief added:
We have in both instances opened hundreds of investigations — in both. We’ve made hundreds of arrests — in both. We’ve used nearly all 56 of our field offices, including our joint terrorism task forces — in both. We’ve used investigative publicity, most wanted posters, and things like that — in both. We’re aggressively pursuing both.
Yet many remain unconvinced. Federal judge Trevor McFadden, for one, has publicly criticized the DOJ for being far too lenient toward violent BLM rioters who caused property damage in Washington in the summer of 2020. Politico notes McFadden said at a sentencing hearing for a Capitol riot defendant last October:
I think the U.S. Attorney’s Office would have more credibility if it was evenhanded in its concern about riots and mobs in this city.
In a December ruling, McFadden also expressed astonishment that the federal government had dropped many of the charges against rioters in Portland, Ore., including some accused of assaulting federal officers:
Rarely has the Government shown so little interest in vigorously prosecuting those who attack federal officers.
The judge did note there were some differences between the federal courthouse attacks and the Capitol siege, since the Capitol complex was fully occupied when the mob stormed in on Jan. 6, while most of the Portland protests directed at the federal courthouse there took place late at night.
McFadden, a Trump appointee, wrote: “Members of Congress cowered under chairs while staffers blockaded themselves in offices, fearing physical attacks from the rioters.”
What the judge failed to recall is that the Secret Service had to rush President Trump into the secure underground bunker at the White House at one point on May 31, 2020, because they feared the presidential compound might be overrun by BLM thugs after some had breached the temporary fencing nearby.
The BLM riots and Capitol riot have many more similarities than many want to admit. And the FBI and DOJ appear to be only treating them superficially similarly. (RELATED: Biden’s DOJ Escalating Prosecutions by Charging Some Capitol Rioters With ‘Seditious Conspiracy’)
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Republican Standard.