Editorial: Cops point to Trump's responsibility for Jan. 6 Capitol mob attack

Here are three takeaways and a clear conclusion from Tuesday’s wrenching testimony before the inaugural meeting of the special committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“To my perpetual confusion, I saw the thin blue line flag, a symbol of support for law enforcement more than once being carried by the terrorists as they ignored our commands and continued to assault us.” The rioters smashed his head. “One latched onto my face and got his thumb in my right eye, attempting to gouge it out. I cried out in pain and managed to shake him off before any permanent damage was done.” He later added, “It’s a pathetic excuse for something that he (President Trump) helped create… this monstrosity. I’m still recovering from those hugs and kisses he claims the rioters were giving us that day.”

"For the first time, I was more afraid to work at the Capitol than during my entire Army deployment to Iraq. In Iraq, we expected armed violence, because we were in a war zone. … The rioters called me a ‘traitor,’ a ‘disgrace,’ and shouted that I should be ‘executed.’ … As an immigrant to the United States, I am especially proud to have defended the U.S. Constitution and our democracy on Jan. 6.”

"If a hit man is hired and he kills somebody, the hit man goes to jail. But not only does the hit man go to jail, but the person who hired them does. It was an attack carried out on Jan. 6 and a hit man sent them. I want you to get to the bottom of that."

"Too many are telling me that hell doesn't exist, or that hell wasn't actually that bad. The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful. I was grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country. I was at risk of being stripped of and killed with my own firearm, as I heard chants of 'Kill him with his own gun.' I can still hear those words in my head today.”

There was no rigging of the election against him. Even his own lawyers haven’t been able to provide a shred of proof though, even as recently as last week in Arizona, he continued to peddle the lie.

He describes the violent rioters as “A LOVING CROWD, too, by the way. There was a lot of love. I've heard that from everybody. Many, many people have told me that was a loving crowd."

So, the committee and members of Congress need to do their job. Trump, at a minimum, inspired and urged his followers to overturn a legitimate election. Those followers stormed the Capitol, in a wave of death and destruction, and sought to do just that and Trump as much as anyone is responsible.