The House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack has spent $4 million in taxpayer money on its investigation of the riot at the Capitol. The American people are due to receive a final report Dec. 21.
The committee asserts that the hearings and the coming report are necessary for the “saving of our democracy.” Supporters of the investigation claim that those who stormed the Capitol are “extremists and domestic terrorists” and Congress must address what they view as “influencing factors” leading to the events. What will the report contain? Was the time, effort and money worth the cost? The court of public opinion will decide, but I say no.
The entire premise of the investigation is faulty. While the conduct of some bad actors during the events was indeed unacceptable, the actions of protesters hardly rose to the level of domestic terrorism. The Boston Marathon bombing (2013), the Oklahoma City bombing (1995) and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting (2018) are examples of domestic terrorism. People who committed these acts of terrorism intended to kill their victims to make an ideological point. That is not what happened on Jan. 6.
