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January 12, 2021 10:20 AM UTC

Don't Let Local Republicans Whitewash U.S. Capitol Violence

  • 24 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Rep.-elect Ron Hanks (R).

AP reports via the Colorado Sun on another Colorado state representative who was on the scene at last Wednesday’s deadly insurrectionist riot at the U.S. Capitol–actually a representative-elect, Ron Hanks of Fremont County, who will be sworn in to represent House District 60 tomorrow morning to succeed term-limited Rep. Jim Wilson:

[I]ncoming Colorado state Rep. Ron Hanks, a Republican from Fremont County, told a local radio station last week that he arrived for Trump’s rally at the Ellipse outside the White House early that Wednesday morning of the violence. The president used the occasion to urge supporters to “fight like hell.”

Hanks said he marched with supporters to the U.S. Capitol afterward. “I was a little surprised to see people already on the scaffolding, with the Trump flag, and so forth,” he told Heart of the Rockies Radio in Salida.

“From the standpoint of the violence, two of us went around to the back of building, which is where the next meeting was supposed to form up,” he said, “and by that time people had already entered the building.”

Another AP story with added local detail from the Denver Post’s Saja Hindi:

An incoming Colorado state representative, Republican Ron Hanks of Fremont County, was one of about a dozen lawmakers from at least nine states last week who marched to the U.S. Capitol to support overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win. Only one lawmaker was known to have gotten inside the Capitol and since was charged with a crime and resigned. Others have said they participated peacefully.

Make no mistake, Rep.-elect Hanks claims to be one of the “peaceful” participants outside the Capitol, although there remains some question about that since everyone who proceeded past the U.S. Capitol Police’s original security perimeter well away from the building itself, which is thousands of people, was arguably breaking the law.

“People wearing Trump material that weren’t Trump supporters that managed to make look good people look bad just by uh, blending in” -Rep.-elect Ron Hanks (R).

We wanted to learn more about Rep.-elect Hanks, so we took a moment to listen to his interview on local radio in Salida where he discusses the momentous events of last Wednesday. That’s when we discovered that Rep.-elect Hanks had a lot more to say about Wednesday’s deadly riots at the Capitol than anybody has reported (beginning at 3:00):

HANKS: Now, the one thing that I thought was interesting, Dan, when I looked at the videos when I got home was, we didn’t see anybody wearing gas masks or helmets and I got to tell you I watch those guys dancing around like they were sparring with the police there and they had a lot more energy than I did and anybody else that had been standing out in the cold for 6 or 7 hours.

Uh, it does raise the question where did these people come from and I don’t think most people knew what was happening because they were still approaching and as we were leaving they were we were passing along news to them.

I don’t feel like it’s the same people.  I think we have to consider the reality or the possibility at least that there were people wearing Trump material that weren’t Trump supporters that managed to make look good people look bad just by uh, blending in. [Pols emphasis] Can’t prove it now but I do want people to consider that as a possibility and I will tell you from first-hand standing there those people that I was around and talking to that that’s not the kind of people that that we met…

Ron Hanks can’t prove it, but that doesn’t stop him from speculating! We can’t prove Rep.-elect Hanks has a tiny penis and had to repeat second grade either, but if we want people to “consider that as a possibility,” apparently that’s fair game.

Speaking of fairness, we should note that this interview took place last Thursday morning, at the same time as lots of local Republicans including Rep. Mark Baisley, and Rep. Richard Champion with Wayne Laugesen of the Colorado Springs Gazette who marched on the Capitol Wednesday, were claiming Antifa and not Trump supporters had actually stormed the building. These allegations have not aged well as one authentic Trump “wackadoo” after another gets picked up in the FBI’s widening investigation. Perhaps by now Rep.-elect Hanks has a better answer, but he’s not responding to requests for comment.

There are two lessons here. One is for Republicans who were once again too quick to blame others instead of acknowledge the truth of what the ugly side of their own movement looks like today–and that’s the most charitable explanation, one that assumes they are not themselves culpable. The other lesson is for reporters covering what Republicans are saying about this event. These stories about Rep.-elect Hanks’ presence in the crowd outside the U.S. Capitol Wednesday failed to report Hanks’ outrageous denial of what was actually happening–and most importantly, which side is to blame. And that’s the most important part of what he said.

Now more than ever, Americans need to know the whole ugly stupid truth.

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24 thoughts on “Don’t Let Local Republicans Whitewash U.S. Capitol Violence”

  1. Looking forward to voluntary disclosure of the cell phone location records showing he was not in the Capitol Building.  And what he expected to happen when he went "to the back of building."

     

    Seems to me there may be reason to have a conversation with him before he is sworn in and seated as a member.

  2. . . . two of us went around to the back of building, which is where the next meeting was supposed to form up,” he said, “and by that time people had already entered the building.”

    . . . me and this one other guy, we’re the only folks who got our directions right — everybody else must have got lost, or decided to go for lattes or something — all I know is that they we were following the directions that were given and they weren’t . . . 
     

      1. Ahh, Big John and Sparky, the little elf from the Land of Make Believe who wanted more than anything else to be a real boy.

        You're dating us, Dear Heart.

  5. Chilling interview with Frank Figluzi, former FBI, on Morning Joe today.  He said the FBI is concerned that Trump sympathizers have infiltrated law enforcement so that federal snipers assigned to the Inauguration will have to monitor the law enforcement forces supposedly assigned to protect the President, et. al. as well as the mob.

    Also, a Democratic House member told Willie Geist that he was worried about new QAnon House members carrying weapons (he was clearly referring to QBert) who should not be allowed anywhere near government leaders.  House members should now be subject to weapons screening like everyone else.

     

  6. The goal of the attack on the Capitol was not to stop election results from being certified. It was to create fear and panic – to terrorize the legislators. I am well aware that the word "terrorism" is overused in current political discourse. But, the FBI defines domestic terrorism as: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.

    Hanks is so self-righteous that he cannot process that the people he marches with, and the president that he idolizes, are terrorists. If terrorism was happening, it must be someone else.

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism:

      There is no Federal criminal offense designated as domestic terrorism.

      But federal law does delineate the actions that define it:

      Under the 2001 USA Patriot Act, domestic terrorism is defined as “activities that

      (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the U.S. or of any state;

      (B) appear to be intended

      (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

      (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

      (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

      (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.”

  7. Mitch appears to be uninterested in "just letting this go"

    Live Updates: On Eve of House Vote, McConnell Is Said to Be Pleased About Effort to Impeach Trump

    • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell believes President Donald Trump has committed multiple impeachable offenses and is "pleased" at the idea of him being impeached, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. 
    • McConnell thinks that Trump being impeached and then potentially convicted and removed from office by the US Senate "will make it easier to purge him from the party," The Times said.
    • McConnell, once one of Trump's most powerful allies, now reportedly plans to never speak to him again over the violence at the Capitol. 

     

          3. Yes, the dam is leaking and I believe is about to burst, and God knows they can't let those corporate dollars go away ! 

            OK so now Mitch and Liz Cheney, who are at the top ( #1 and # 3 respectively), support impeachment and we know how good party members are at falling in line…

      2. If Mitch cries us a river, Kickshot, we could put a hydropower station on it and generate clean energy that way.  Can you cry a river with crocodile tears?

  8. Ron Hanks should be asked repeatedly what on earth he made the trip to Washington for! And whose directions was he following? Can he provide copies of communications he was receiving telling him to go to “the back of the building?” Who was Hanks with? What did he think was supposed to happen at the Capitol? Did he see the gallows built for VP Pence? Did he hear the murderous chants? Did he see the mob breaking through barriers, climbing the outside of the Capitol, breaking windows and doors? What did he do when he witnessed the terrorist attack – did he call law enforcement?

    Hanks should not be able to show his face anywhere without having questions like this posed to him.

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