Six months after Capitol attack, Biden calls for accelerated investigations

In an official White House statement released on July 6, President Biden wished to address the evils that plagued his country six months ago.

Images of the assault on Capitol Hill by supporters of former President Donald Trump had by then gone around the world.

“Even during the Civil War, the insurgents did not violate our Capitol, the citadel of our democracy.

But six months earlier, insurgents had done so,

”said the president.

Just as Abraham Lincoln had expressed during his Gettysburg address, the 46th President of the United States links this attack on Capitol Hill with the future of American democracy.

“It's an existential crisis and a test of whether our democracy could survive.

"

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Political obstacles

For the Democratic president, the follow-up to this event is decisive.

They must, according to him, help America to heal the wounds opened by the mandate of its predecessor.

"It requires people of goodwill and courage to stand up to the hate, lies and extremism that led to this vicious attack, including to find out what happened so that we can deal with it. remember and not bury it ”.

If the president wants to unite, it is because the investigations and the commissions launched after the facts, slip and suffer from blockages.

The brake is first and foremost political.

On May 28, the establishment of a special independent congressional commission, made up of ten experts, five chosen by the Democrats and five others by the Republicans, was ruled out by the latter.

According to them, the ongoing parliamentary and police investigations were sufficient.

Only six Republican senators had then voted for this commission, defying the line of the party still under the influence of Donald Trump.

Read also: Assault on the Capitol: a report criticizes the police

After this failure, Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic president of the House of Representatives, announced at the end of June the creation of a special committee. According to the law, it will be responsible "

for investigating and reporting the facts, circumstances and causes related to the domestic terrorist attack of January 6, 2021

. "

The commission will be composed of thirteen members appointed by the Democratic leadership, including five after consultations with the leader of the Republican minority.

The party of the former president was also eager to denounce the impartiality of the process.

Only two Republican representatives, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, supported this project.

Its mission will be to centralize the many parliamentary inquiries already underway.

It can, if it wishes, summon witnesses and demand certain documents.

No deadline has been set for the commission to deliver its findings.

A complex investigation

On its site, the FBI is offering $ 100,000 for any reliable information that would lead to the arrest of home-made bombers in Washington, DC the day before the attack.

Since January 6, at least 500 people involved in the attack have been found, then charged with more or less serious charges.

Police investigations are still ongoing.

The FBI posted dozens of videos and photos taken during the protest on its site, eleven new videos were added on Tuesday.

An appeal was launched to collect all the information that would identify the people who took part in the violence of January 6, to locate and arrest them.

Five people, including a Capitol policeman, died in the attack.

Around 300 people remain unidentified to this day. Authorities are having difficulty locating people who have never had any dealings with the courts before. Detectives are responsible for finding suspects through videos, photos and recordings made during the attack. The FBI also uses facial recognition software, its computers scan social networks, and the agency also uses “crowdsourcing” techniques that allow, through computers, to identify people dispersed in crowds. All means are good to find the suspects.