The World Stood Still for 187 minutes. . .

"The President stood by for 187 minutes."

January 6, 2021 - The beginning of the Insurrection on our Capitol. Messages went out to the insurrectionists,  "Come to the Capitol. We will need to kill a few and the rest will flee. Are you up for that?"

They were baiting law enforcement to shoot so they could have a "Boston-style massacre."  They were armed and ready to shoot it out with the police.  The Pentagon was in fear that Trump would use our military to escalate the battle.  His goal was to overturn the election results of the Electoral College. Trump watched the insurrection play out on television from his office while he communicated with members of his staff.

Senator Lindsay Graham told the police, "You have guns, use them," in what appears to have been an attempt to urge them to conduct a gun battle with the extremists.  The orders from police command was to not engage with gun fire and that saved many lives that day. 

What went on in the mind of the president during those 187 minutes? It is believed the novices he sent to the Pentagon days prior to January 6, 2021 were somewhat successful in refusing to send military help to the Capitol. But what did he do during those minutes, and who did he talk with from the security of his office? His goal was clear: Stop the certification of the Electoral College's presidential election.  Declare it a fraudulent election result and send it to the U.S. House of Representatives to ratify Donald J. Trump as the winner. 

The tragedy has come into clearer focus since Jan. 6th, and the special House committee is bringing many facts to the surface.  The Washington Post has produced many salient news stories that are opening the eyes of Americans.

 "An event of the magnitude of the Capitol attack demands deep and revelatory reporting," said Matea Gold, national political enterprise and investigation editor of The Washington Post. "This news room-wide collaboration provides our readers with a definitive account of Jan. 6 and its lasting impact on American democracy."

"The Attack: Before, During and After" lays out striking new details about the cascade of warnings law enforcement officials received before Jan. 6 and uses social media posts, text messages, videos and photographs to show how Trump radicalized his supporters and mobilized them to action. The project also features voicemails of threats made against election officials around the country, and includes intimate reporting about six individuals whos lives were affected by Jan. 6.

More than 75 journalists in The Post newsroom contributed to The Attack, including more than 25 reporters. The findings are based on interviews with more than 230 people and thousands of pages of court documents and internal law enforcement reports, along with hundreds of videos, photographs, and audio recordings."

The critically shocking news of the day from The Post was: "For 187 minutes, the commander in chief stands back and allows an attack on a branch of the U. S. Government."

This was the greatest attack on our Capitol and our democracy in history. Of equal tragedy was the  beginning of the Civil War in 1861 which  began four years of Americans killing Americans, but Jan. 6th was an attack on the Capitol Building, our democracy, and the intent to overturn a presidential election, which would have obliterated our rule of law!

Go online and read this three-part series on "The Attack: Before, During and After" by The Washington Post!