BP Adams Calls For Department Of Justice To Investigate Response By Capitol Police, Highlights Double Standard

Press release from the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President:

January 8 2021

Brooklyn, NY – Yesterday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams joined elected officials and clergy leaders outside the United States District Court in the Eastern District to demand the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate the response by Capitol Police after a mob supporting President Trump stormed the US Capitol building and attempted a coup, leaving several injured and five dead, including a Capitol Police officer. Numerous reports indicated that, despite causing extensive property damage and attacking law enforcement officials, insurrectionists were largely met with little resistance by Capitol Police.

About 82 people involved in the coup have been arrested thus far, and many involved in Wednesday’s attempted coup are still at large. Borough President Adams contrasted the relatively lenient response with the overwhelming use of force used by police departments across the country in response to Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that gripped the country last year, which resulted in the arrests of thousands. Alongside New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, and Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, Borough President Adams called for everyone involved in the apparent coup attempt to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

“Let’s be clear: What we saw yesterday was an attempted coup against our democratically-elected government, full stop. Still, we are left with many questions. How does law enforcement so easily mobilize to stop peaceful BLM protests, but with weeks to prepare fail to stop the storming of our Capitol? This was not a secret plan. What role did the Trump administration play? What role did Capitol Police play? We demand the identification, arrest, and prosecution of everyone who invaded and occupied the Capitol. We demand a task force, led by the Justice Department and in coordination with police, to make these arrests. We demand a commission to determine for Congress how insurrectionists easily breached the Capitol, and who is responsible. We demand an investigation if and how President Trump or his staff were at all involved in the incident, its planning, or its instigation. And we will not rest until we get answers. What happened yesterday can never happen again,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

“Thousands of nonviolent protesters were arrested this summer in support of Black Lives Matter. Yesterday, thousands of rioters stormed the Capitol, and all but a few were not only able to do so without much resistance, but leave without much consequence. There is no moral equivalence between these two groups, and there is massive disparity in the response, or lack of response, from law enforcement. We have questions, but sadly, we probably know the answers,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

“Traitorous seditionists — incited to riot by the sitting President of the United States — breached the United States Capitol building yesterday. They were apparently aided by some in a woefully underprepared Capitol Police force, resulting in the deaths of four Americans. These domestic terrorists temporarily disrupted the certification of President-elect Biden’s and Vice-President-elect Harris’s election. The bedrock of our democracy is the fundamental principle of majority rule and the peaceful transition of power. I stand with Borough President Adams in calling on the Department of Justice to investigate the actions of the Capitol Police and lack thereof — clearly law enforcement’s approach to this act of domestic terror is very different than what we saw in connection with last year’s response to Black Lives Matter protests,” said Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon.

In addition to calling for DOJ to investigate yesterday’s response, Borough President Adams and others called for the following steps to be taken to ensure those responsible for Wednesday’s attack are held accountable:

• That the government identifies, arrests, and prosecutes every single person who occupied and invaded the Capitol yesterday, on the following charges:

• • Obstruction of justice
  • Travel to riot
  • Destruction of Federal property
  • Assault of an officer
  • Insurrection and seditious conspiracy

• That a task force led by DOJ coordinate with police to make these arrests.

• That a commission be convened to determine how these people were able to so easily breach the Capitol Wednesday, as well as who was responsible, and deliver those findings to Congress.

Borough President Adams also issued an open call to clergy leaders to organize prayer vigils outside their respective houses of worship to pray for healing in the country after Wednesday’s traumatic events.

This press release was produced by the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President. The views expressed are the author's own.