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Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, a former Army ranger who saw combat, comforts Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild as they were trapped in the House Chamber. Photo by Tom Williams\/Getty<\/em><\/p>\n Facing a Trump impeachment trial that could put their collusion with domestic terrorists on record, a craven and ever-hypocritical GOP is frantically <\/span>backpedaling on history, <\/span>downplaying <\/a>the mayhem they unleashed, declaring themselves innocent of wrongdoing, blithely insisting it’s time to <\/span>“move on” <\/a>and for good measure deriding those insisting on the facts and the need for accountability – thus following a long national tradition of willful <\/span>denial<\/a><\/span> that led writer Gore Vidal to proclaim us “<\/span>the United States of Amnesia.” In truth, the damage from the Capitol riot – and the “insurgents” the FBI is still <\/span>tracking – <\/a><\/span><\/span>runs deep and wide. Among a growing number of lawmakers speaking up about the panic <\/a>they felt that day and the trauma<\/a> they still struggle with, New York Rep. <\/span>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez <\/span>has been one of the most visible. In a 98-minute video this week, she described <\/a>her fear – especially, she revealed, as a sexual assault survivor – as she hid <\/a>with Rep. Katie Porter even as she called out<\/span> complicit <\/a>GOPers who <\/span>“continue to be a danger to their colleagues.”<\/p>\n As a longtime target of right-wing <\/span>vitriol <\/a>and <\/span>death threats – <\/a>including from a rioter who’s been <\/span>arrested;<\/a> his lawyer is now trying to de-program<\/a> him from “cult leader” Trump – AOC has keenly felt that danger. Still, she argued, “We cannot heal without accountability” for those who “chose to tell the lie.” For her bravery, she’s become the target of a nasty smear campaign<\/a> – classic abuser move – by right-wing pols and media: <\/a>She’s “a petulant child” and a la Jussie Smollett <\/a>the country should \u201cunify in telling you to go fornicate yourself,” her account<\/a> was a \u201cloopy delusion\u201d of \u201camazing acting\u201d and \u201cgross manipulation,\u201d she wasn’t <\/a>even in the building, <\/a>and from Glenn Greenwald (yes, that one), she didn’t have<\/a> “even a tiny little bruise on her body,” though damn you’d think he’d know about the long history of women needing to show bruises to prove they were harmed. The vicious clap back prompted several outraged pieces – here, <\/a>here<\/a>, here – <\/a>about the indignities visited upon women who speak out. The gist, from one: “I<\/span> am so fucking sick of men telling women they didnt experience what they experienced.”<\/p>\n At the heart of the bedlam that day were hundreds of ill-prepared Capitol police suddenly “engaged in literal hand-to-hand-combat” against a frenzied mob wielding<\/a> everything from crutches, flagpoles and cross-bows to stun guns, molotov cocktails and multiple firearms, including rifles with armor-piercing bullets. Due to a still-murky mix of incompetence and complicity, they remained largely, stunningly without back-up, in part thanks to passive Army officials who admitted they “didn’t like the optics of boots on the ground at the Capitol.” In closed-door remarks, <\/a>titled<\/span> “Capitol Complex Security Failures,” before the House last week, Acting Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee called the assault “a dark day for our country” that had “exposed weaknesses in the security of the most secure city in the country.” In a chilling narrative, he described “officers being beaten by a crowd of insurgents” in hours-long combat “indelibly etched” on officers’ memories – and their bodies. About 140 officers were injured – cracked ribs, traumatic brain injuries, smashed spinal discs, a lost eye, many scratches, bruises, cuts, mace-burned eyes. His clear, grim conclusion: Police, the Capitol, the electoral process was under attack. “This was not<\/em> a peaceful protest, (but) an assault on our democracy,” he said. “The costs for this insurrection – both human and monetary – will be steep.\u201d And they have been.<\/p>\n There were five deaths: four rioters, and officer Brian Sicknick, whose remains lay<\/a> in honor this week at the Rotunda; he died <\/a>after getting hit in the head with a fire extinguisher. At a brief ceremony, Nancy Pelosi lamented the “senseless tragedy” of his death; a superior noted <\/a>there’s “nothing more traumatic” to police than a colleague’s death. Far more of that trauma, Chief Contee warns, “will be widely felt but possibly unacknowledged.” He says he’s working <\/a>to address the mental health issues of officers, but the force has been “reeling” <\/a>from two suicides <\/a>of officers in the wake of the riot. Howard Liebengood, 51, who had guarded the Capitol for 15 years, took his life <\/a><\/span>Jan. 9, and Jeffrey Smith, 35, a 12-year veteran, <\/span>killed himself <\/span><\/a>Jan. 15. Those deaths and all that sparked them has reportedly left a department in turmoil, <\/a>with plummeting morale and widespread fear, guilt, uncertainty and anger at higher-ups that many officers feel failed them. “We’re coming to work for the next person we work with,” said one. “(We) try to take care of each other.” That’s also what <\/span>drove <\/a>officer Michael Fanone, 40, who’s worked plainclothes for a decade and never taken his riot gear out of its plastic bag, to leave his desk and self-deploy the day of the riot: “I went there for my brothers and sisters in law enforcement.” He ended up getting beaten, tased, <\/span>dragged down stairs,<\/a> and pummeled smashed with an American flag by a half-dozen<\/a> rioters yelling, “Kill him with own gun.” After he begged them to let him live for his four daughters, they released him; he later had a heart attack. He likely spoke for thousands in D.C. that day in his response <\/a>to their moment of mercy: “Thank you, but fuck you for being there.”<\/p>\n Gas-masked lawmakers exit the Chamber. Getty Image<\/em><\/p>\n Lawmakers huddle. Photo by Andrew Harnik\/AP<\/em><\/p>\n Fox goes lower still<\/em><\/p>\n @DCPoliceDept<\/a> officer Michael Fanone said on CNN, \u201cIt was all about self preservation…I \u201cappealed to their humanity…I just remember yelling out I have kids\u201d \u2014 David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) January 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n ![](\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/sites\/default\/files\/users\/user1368\/cops_new_big_05dd67d5-25ed-4578-afd9-175baddf0acb_1920x1080.jpg\")
<\/span><\/div>\nScreenshot of Michael Fanone under attack<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/sites\/default\/files\/users\/user1368\/capitol_new_gas_masks_475_getty_eps-lucille-roybal-allard-d-calif-and-annie-kuster-d-n-h-news-photo-1610049732.jpg\")
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