The death of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick on Jan. 6, 2021, was a tragedy. Everyone can acknowledge that. Almost every other narrative pushed by the left involving Sicknick’s death, however, is a blatant falsehood,
And it isn’t as if time has corrected the record. It’s been over 18 months since the Capitol incursion, and a Democratic representative, speaking at a congressional hearing, actually claimed Sicknick died because he was “bludgeoned to death.”
The problem, as two Republicans subsequently noted, is that Sicknick died of natural causes — and a medical examiner’s ruling stating this fact is well over a year old.
The viral exchange came after GOP Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina took exception to the Democrats’ characterization of how the officer died.
“Did you say that a police officer was bludgeoned to death by the crowd at the Jan. 6 riots?” Bishop asked Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones of New York.
“I said a police officer was bludgeoned to death,” Jones responded. “I did not say at the hands of whom, Mr. Bishop.”
He then asked if Bishop denied that a police officer had been murdered during the Capitol incursion.
“I understood that there were reports earlier on that Sicknick was struck with a fire extinguisher, and that subsequently was debunked as false,” Bishop said. “He died of natural causes … are we talking about the same person, Sicknick, or are we talking about somebody else?”
Then, GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas hammered home just how wrong Rep. Jones was.
Was Brian Sicknick’s death related to the events of Jan. 6?
“This is a genuine question, because the medical examiner — the U.S. Capitol Police put out a report agreeing with the medical examiner finding … Sicknick died of natural causes,” Roy said.
In April of 2021, the chief medical examiner of Washington, D.C., ruled Sicknick died of natural causes after suffering two strokes. There was no evidence of injuries, either internal or external, and no evidence he had an allergic reaction to a chemical irritant used by rioters.
Jones then backpedaled, claiming that Sicknick really was killed by rioters due to “but-for causation.”
In a legal case, “but-for causation” is a test to determine culpability. As the Cornell Legal Information Institute notes, it’s a test in which the court is asked “but for the existence of X, would Y have occurred?”
In other words, Jones is insinuating that, if not for Capitol incursion, Brian Sicknick would still be alive.
There’s no evidence of this, mind you, but it didn’t stop Jones from asking the Republicans to “at least concede, at a minimum, that Mr. Sickick died as a result of what happened on Jan. 6.”
But that wasn’t the question: “Was he bludgeoned to death?” Bishop asked, adding he didn’t concede the events of Jan. 6 caused Sicknick’s death.
“My understanding is that that was debunked, and Mr. Roy just read the medical examiner’s information,” Bishop said. “Do you guys contend he was bludgeoned to death?”
WATCH: Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) says that Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was “bludgeoned to death” on January 6 and is left looking like a fool when @RepDanBishop reminds him that was a lie and the medical examiner ruled he died of natural causes. pic.twitter.com/jluOdH7NEV
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 1, 2022
“I contend that 138 Capitol and D.C. police officers were injured and that multiple Capitol Police officers died,” Jones responded. “You can see how one would question the sincerity of such a minute point in the midst of the gravity of everything else.”
Was Sicknick bludgeoned to death, or did he die of a stroke that couldn’t conclusively be linked to the events of Jan. 6? Who cares? Why would anyone concern themselves with minute details of whether someone was murdered or died?
That question is prima facie ridiculous, of course, but there’s a darned good reason, too: Sicknick has become a symbol of Just How Bad the Capitol incursion was. It seems that, to many Democrats, it’s not enough that he died of a stroke, even if they could get everyone to buy the fact that there was but-for causation. No, he needed to have died at the hands of a bloodthirsty MAGA mob that bludgeoned him with a fire extinguisher.
It’s an untruth that’s been repeated by no less than President Joe Biden, responding to a comment from Russian President Vladimir Putin that he banned protests because “he did not want a repeat of the Jan. 6 riots in his country, or for a group like Black Lives Matter to form there,” according to the U.K. Daily Mail.
“I think that’s a ridiculous comparison,” Biden said. “It’s one thing for, literally, criminals to break through a cordon, go into the Capitol, kill a police officer and be held unaccountable, than it is for people objecting and marching on the Capitol and saying you are not allowing me to speak freely, you are not allowing me to do A, B, C or D. And so they’re very different criteria.”
When Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn appeared before the Jan. 6 committee last year, he also repeated the falsehood during his emotional testimony.
Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn calls for a moment of silence “for my fallen colleague, officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries he sustained in the line of duty defending the Capitol of our beloved democracy” https://t.co/2RJjqvCz6u pic.twitter.com/iTF7sAXsLI
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 27, 2021
“I’d like to take a moment of my time,” Dunn said, “to ask for a moment of silence for my fallen colleague officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries he sustained in the line of duty defending the Capitol of our beloved democracy.”
Officer Dunn was doubtlessly more sincere in his anguish than either President Biden or Rep. Jones, but that doesn’t imbue his words with any more accuracy.
Absolutely no one except for those on the lunatic fringe believe Jan. 6 was a mere trifle, just another protest in a country that saw quite a few of them over the turbulent year of COVID-19 and George Floyd. However, that’s not enough for Democrats. Not only must Brian Sicknick have been killed by a murderous horde, that horde is still out there — and they could seize power again.
However, if a Democrat plans on scaring voters like that, they’d better hope there isn’t a Chip Roy or Dan Bishop nearby to set them straight.
