David Eastman: January 6 – a day Americans can never forget

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By REP. DAVID EASTMAN

Washington, D.C. – On Oct. 1, 2021, Dinesh D’Souza said the quiet part out loud when he wrote, “I wonder if history will view January 6, in retrospect, as America’s Tiananmen Square. Desperate protesters seeking to have their voices heard. Vicious government crackdown and prosecution. No dissent policy enforced across society via mass censorship and one-party media”

Journalist Taylor Hansen recounts a more up front view of what happened that day on his thread here:

Unfortunately, that brutality did not end on Jan. 6. Apparently, burning police cars and local businesses in a MPP (mostly peaceful protest) is “democracy at work”, but venturing to the Capitol building on Jan. 6 has already earned hundreds of Americans a prison sentence, whether they engaged in violence or not.

Democrats in Congress, unsatisfied by the 950 arrests reported by the Department of Justice, recently added more than $200 million in funding for additional arrests and prosecutions stemming from Jan. 6.

To mark the tragedy, the White House handed out awards Friday to individuals like former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, for working to ensure that Arizona’s electoral votes would be counted for Biden on Jan. 6, and Ruby Freeman, who scanned ballots as an employee of Stacey Abrams’ temp agency Happy Faces.

But my thoughts on Friday were not of Rusty Bowers or of Ruby Freeman. On Friday, I journeyed, along with hundreds of others, to the DC central detention facility.

Like so many others, I was there to keep faith with those who committed no violence on Jan. 6, and yet remain in prison. On my last trip to D.C., I had the privilege of singing the national anthem with several of the J-6 prisoners. As on so many nights over the past two years, at 9 pm the national anthem was sung from both outside and inside the jail.

David Clements, one of the speakers at Friday night’s vigil, mentioned The Prisoner’s Record, where the names of more than 900 Americans being prosecuted over Jan. 6 were recently posted.

Some, like former Green Beret Jeremy Brown, were imprisoned though they never engaged in violence with police, and never set foot inside the capitol. In Brown’s case, he even rescued a woman that day. Brown’s political crime appears to have been that he declined to be a federal informant in the weeks leading up to January 6th, and later released video of the event, which embarrassed Christopher Wray and the FBI. Like so many others who have become political targets of the Biden administration, Brown’s home was raided by the FBI.

The website American Gulag chronicles the story of Brown and hundreds of others.

Absent from that site are the names of countless Americans who experienced political persecution simply for being in D.C. on January 6, 2021.

Friday marked my third time being in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6. I described the experience of my first two times in “What it Meant to be in Washington, DC on January 6th“.

Friday evening bore neither the jovial atmosphere of our arrival in D.C. to years ago, or the shock as we left. As I watched the 14th round of voting for Speaker of the House Friday with a group of others from the vigil, I was reminded of Sir John Harington.

It was Harington who observed in 1612: “Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”

Those who ventured to the D.C. jail are among the number of those who continue to speak truth to power when it comes to The Real Story of January 6. Like the tragedy of Tiananmen Square, it’s a story that the current regime cannot abide.

Insurrection is a crime. It’s also a crime to try to overthrow the government. Over the last 24 months, how many times have you heard the White House use the word “insurrection” to describe Jan. 6, despite no one even being charged with the crime of insurrection? How many times have you heard that someone or other tried to overthrow the government on Jan. 6, despite no one ever being charged much less convicted of that crime?

Even so, it is a political truth today that there was a Republican-led insurrection on Jan. 6. This is designed to lead to the next political truth, that any official who questioned the integrity of the 2020 election (i.e. any Republican official to the right of Liz Cheney) should therefore be expelled and permanently barred from public office for life. Remember, a former director of the CIA already declared publicly that the Republican Party is the most dangerous political force in the world. The heck with dismantling ISIS – it’s the Republican Party that must be dismantled! 

To oppose the NEA is to oppose education. To oppose the Democratic Party is to oppose democracy. Therefore, any threat to the power of the Democratic Party must be eliminated so that democracy may be saved.

How do I know this?

My family just spent more than a quarter of a million dollars doing battle with these ‘political truths’ and defending the right of voters in my district to vote for a candidate that the Left has labeled a threat to Democracy. The Alaska Democratic Party declared me unfit for office and demanded that I be expelled, and a radical law firm then brought in an Anchorage judge to somehow make it all legal. At first they argued that I was in D.C. on January 6th and needed to be expelled because of that. Then they argued that I had joined Oathkeepers in 2010. Then they went back to arguing that by attending Trump’s speech on January 6th I was guilty of insurrection.

After a two-week trial, we were successful in defending the right of Alaskans in my district to have their votes counted over and against the protests of the Alaska Democratic Party. Despite the welcome outcome, as they intended, this battle has been truly exhausting for my family, both physically and also financially. Even so, the idea of forfeiting these rights was even more terrifying. If you can help us find the funds to cover our legal expenses we would be truly grateful.

Even so, the challenges our family is currently facing do not compare with the families of those who lost loved ones on January 6th or whose loved ones still remain behind bars today because of January 6th. Americans must never forget these men and women and their families. As Taylor Hansen declared exactly one year ago today, “I never stopped talking about January 6th because it would morally be the wrong thing to do after the number of horrors I witnessed.“

Rep. David Eastman serves Wasilla, District 27, in the Alaska Legislature.

73 COMMENTS

  1. J6 was not a tragic event. The threats were known and no extra security was added. A small contingent did venture to the capitol where they were essentially let in and led down the hallways by security. Just enough Antifa members and Oregon Anarchists were sent to rile things up. Pure theatre so all the blame could be placed on Trump.

    • Nah! The “people’s insurgents” were simply outsmarted by Antifa’s counterintelligence operatives. The insurgents couldn’t “stop the steal” or even find Mike Pence to hang the bum. Come on, boys, Trump himself didn’t have the balls to cross the Rubicon; then again, he may have been the only smart “man” among his friends knowing that they were just showboating–not a true Revolutionary American among them to protect the flag!

      Eastman–the West Pointer–was out played by a nutty “shaman!” But I do give his “holy man” credit: he at least found the Speaker’s chair in the U. S. House, whereas, Eastman couldn’t even find the front door of the Capitol building!

      • Cowardly snark man – I support your right to lie like a fool, but the least you could do is give us your name so we know what to expect from whom. Truth matters.

        • Yeah, yeah! Why do you think Trump avoids the truth like the fires of hell! What’s your game? And don’t let the truth get snagged up in your teeth! Remember, St. Peter wouldn’t have any qualms knocking them out of you when he begins your final interrogation! He’s a busy man; if necessary he’ll get right to the “dentistry” without pausing to administer the anesthetic! Certainly, truth matters to the Lord and St. Peter, and they wouldn’t put up with you treating it as if it were an empty notion!

          • Edit (last sentence): “Certainly, truth matters to the Lord and St. Peter, and they won’t put up with you treating it as if it were an empty notion!”

    • Not only were the anarchist/antifa sent in to rile things up. The naysayers who only allow them selves to be spoonfed by the main stream. Super spreaders have never seen the video footage. The footage is of antifa members in alleyways, and in shrubbery, changing clothes. Covering their black uniforms and hoodies to wear red white and blue. Carrying “make America great” signs that they were supplied from the charter buses. This is not speculation. This is from actual footage.

      • MJD, you are among friends, show us the “video” that you are privy to of the “costume changes” in the alleys and in the shrubbery. It’s not that your word is no good; it’s that we want credible proof. With all the headhunters that were on the rampage and out to string Pence up, I wouldn’t be surprised if that video isn’t of some of the more ardent insurgents relieving their bowels or otherwise just being human animals getting out of their attire for other personal reasons! Who really know, eh?

        It’s a mad world, MJD. There is no good reason to be of “service” to anybody in this world but yourself! I’ve learned that from President Trump!

        Whatever the “footage” is that you have, turn it over to Speaker McCarthy: he’s a credible public servant; let him get to the “bottom” of what was happening in the shrubbery!

    • RINO, me thinks you have not examined your “feelings” about J-6 with anything approaching rational thought.
      Sorry pal, nice try, cozy up to the fireplace, sip on your wine as you listen to the soothing propaganda on NPR and just be grateful that you are not troubled with that hard exercise of thinking.

      • He’ll have to turn the volume WAY up in order to be able to hear the mushy-mouthed mumblers of NPR.
        .
        What IS it about NPR, that they seem to encourage, if not demand, their (almost invariably female) announcers to whisper and to be so unclear on the radio? It was always highly aggravating to me whenever I would try to listen to NPR (simply for amusement’s sake) while driving; I finally gave up on trying to do so completely a fair number of years ago.

      • That’s fine, I forgive you that you can’t make out sedition against our great nation, being blinded by the propaganda of the Trump
        Cult and all. Have a happy New years.

  2. Every person has their own view of reality, I guess. Everyone has to account for their own behavior in the end, as well. Problem is, no man (woman, or child) lives on an island unto themselves, and in the iteration of an old chestnut, “individual freedom extends to the point where it infringes on the individual rights of others” as Mr Ginsburg in American History explained in 7th grade, “to the point before where where your fist comes in contact with my nose” (notwithstanding that aspect of damage from intimidation). I can’t see where Mr Eastman of Wasilla is going to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America on behalf of anyone’s rights as duly elected by a majority of citizens, other than those of his own.

    • Mrs. N:
      .
      WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

      • Yes? We memorized the Preamble to the United States Constitution in seventh grade as well.

        Mr Ginsburg, if you’re still alive, thank you! Chugiak High has some mighty fine instructors, setting us students, and the future genaratin on the path of an Alaskan eclectic and firm foundation.

        (I guess memorizing and reasoning were not part of the curriculum at some other schools, or maybe the students were out smoking weed behind the hockey rink? …Sorry, not sorry, can’t resist offering an excuse/explanation for addled brain nonsense or are they creative thinking exercises? Er, hmm. It’s a new year kiddo –me says, “better straighten up, fly right!” “This year’s goal was/is more self-discipline is resisting impulse reactions. Now, I’ve failed twice. Better go out and shovel some snow or something. Make it a 5k ski trip. Clear my mind.”

        • Mrs N.:
          .
          You are on the right track. It’s not just a matter of reciting a memorized line. It’s the reasoning and comprehension that are important. The Constitution was created for ALL of us, applies to ALL of us, and is therefore worth defending by ALL of us.
          .
          And in the spirit of resisting impulse reactions, I just want to say I hope you got a good workout. As Clint Eastwood says in Pale Rider, “A man’s spirit ain’t worth spit without a little exercise.”

    • Mrs. N., Eastman is gaming his constituents: is that illegal? You might make a Sunday-school case against him, but even the churches have a game going for themselves!

      Look, you’ve got to “play” the people where you find them, and Eastman has found a crop of fools to “work” for himself! If he wasn’t “working” them, somebody else would be “working” them instead!

      I’ve had it with all of the flighty “neo-prohibitionists.” Why do you think the Good Lord populated the earth with so many kinds of people, eh? Some to use, and some to be used! Simple as that!

  3. “How many times have you heard that someone or other tried to overthrow the government on Jan. 6, despite no one ever being charged much less convicted of that crime?”
    I think convictions of seditious conspiracy of Oath Keepers is close enough. It is laughable to consider yourself and others as the victims. Do you care one little bit about the police officers injured that day. Get over yourself!

  4. uh oh que the new lefts pearl clutching at this article and their further authoritarian boot licking

    good stuff Eastman I’m glad the powers that be couldn’t railroad you

  5. The J6 political prisoners infuriates me so much, I really can’t even read anything on it anymore. That entire sick, unconstitutional circus is Soviet in the extreme and it’s utterly enraging it’s going on in the USA. The levels of criminality in our federal gov’t are unprecedented…and growing. And nobody (that can) is doing a damned thing about it.

    • That’s because long ago and far away a deal was made. Between Russia and the USA. They lied and jumped ship. Literally. Brought gold to the USA. Stayed incognito (with the exception of a few) and proceeded to get into investment and business in the USA. Remember the ‘roaring 20’s? Now where did the money come from? Where did it go? 1929 stock crash. So much for good times. Then time passes. Questions asked. Attempts to silence backfires. Then ignites a fire. Next thing Russia is exhuming graves in Russia and Jerusalem. Sounds like the Middle East was a good place to move to and hide. Now it’s exposed. Might be why Putin demoed the building. Paid for silence. Nothing to see here.
      Wonder how that’s working for him. Seized assets? Sounds like someone figured it out.

  6. The real traitors are still alive and well in Congress and the various American intelligence agencies. Until that rot is investigated and purged the Republic is in peril.

  7. No matter how much the major media produces their “false claims” propoganda into their political news articles, everyone in America knows that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in at least five or six battleground states. The documentation and evidence is overwhelming. Joe Biden was illegitimately sworn-in and continues to be an illegitimate president. This fight will spill over to 2024. It’s not going away, and neither are the Patriots, such as Representative Eastman, until the cheating Democrats are booted out of office. January 6th was a public protest to falsely run elections and corruption at the highest levels of government, including the major media’s attempt to brainwash the public into a false narrative. We aren’t going away. And it appears, neither is David Eastman.

  8. January 6 was a false flag operation orchestrated by the Dems. All the questions about Ray Epps involvement have failed to ask if he was a Democrat plant. He’s only responded to questions if he was FBI or a government agent which he can honestly say no since the Democrat party isn’t a government agency. Ask the right questions! The Dems instigated all the bad things that happened that day.
    And thank you David Eastman for your service and stalwart defense of these spurious charges.

  9. Andrew Troy: Excellent! If I could I would circle the word “of” the people I would. I would highlight “Blessings of Liberty and…”do ordain…establish “this Constitution” “for” the United States of America. That diction proves the DECLARED Christian ideology at the establishment of the United States. Athiests will never speak of blessings or use the word ordain. That is typical diction of Christians. Also the emphasis on “This Constitution” there were many iterations of Constitution drafts and “this” is the proximate establishment of the nation. Constitutions are the province of establishment. Ergo, any congress is not willy nilly empowered to create a new nation by tampering in DC on this constitutional. THE ONLY tampering process IS the Constitutional Convention. I doubt Peltola was taught this from her admirers.

  10. If and when america falls i Think her fall won’t be done by any group, i think democrat or republican they Only have God to fear whenever he puts His judgement over america Americans have no group to fear only to fear God. It was God in america’s beginning, God in-between richly blessing us, and God at the end.

      • Are you crazy ? Americans who hate their fellow Americans more than they love their country at only doing the bidding of our adversaries, i.e. the Russians and the Chinese.

        Putin has got to be loving this. As long as there are bloggers and propagandists to continue pushing this false narrative, the divide will only get larger.

  11. The worst that can be said of Jan 6, 2020, is there were trespassers and vandals present. The ONLY felony crimes committed during this riot were don by government entities. Best example is the murder of Ashley Babbit. Watch the video as she pokes her head through the broken glass door and talks to the cops behind that door. Then Michael Byrd calmly took aim and executed her (most likely with ‘authorization’ from command). The list of people arrested without their legal rights is astounding. Some have been in custody for months without access to lawyers and limited access (at best) to family. Last I heard, when you are taken into custody, you have a right to legal counsel, a hearing of the charges, and a right to trial to settle those charges. With holding of those rights is a felony. In some recent cases, people present during the riot have been contacted by the FBI and informed that they were being charged with multiple misdemeanors. Since when does the FBI investigate misdemeanors? And why are people being charged two years after the fact?

    If you trespassed onto capitol property or vandalised federal property then stand up and be punished. Stand in front of the judge and get slapped with a ticket and maybe some community service.

    Wholesale charging of people and overcharging are the crimes here.

    • There were twice as many trespassers /visitors to DC on Jan 6 as trespassers who arrived for the Dr. Martin Luther King message. Twice as many trespassers. Yet, the King message trespassers to DC were not stripped of rights and deposited in the Constitution free foreign soil of DC gulags. The two million trespassers came in good faith to a city falsely characterized to American people as “their” capitol. Actually, it is the foreign aid capitol; isn’t it. All and any who trespass into that foreign destination are at severe physical risk. Democrats command that this status quo never be corrected to US Constitution compliance. It remains a mockery to the republic. So don’t go. It is foolish.

  12. Thank you for writing this, Rep. Eastman. Thank you for reminding us to lift up our fellow Americans in prayer.

  13. Eastman is on the wrong side of history and reality and will be remembered for his arrogance and teasonous beliefs.

    • Lucinda, Eastman will not be remembered for anything close to Treason, that charge will be reserved for the entrenched politicians of both stripes who even now are selling out our Country. It’s sad that so many folks are incurious and willingly swallow the Tripe that they are fed in the Media and from their politico’s.
      In the end, the Arrogance of the Ignorant will be this nations downfall, as they become so mired and permanently entrenched in their belief systems they become unable to recognize what is true or real.

      • “ It’s sad that so many folks are incurious and willingly swallow the Tripe that they are fed in the Media and from their politico’s.
        In the end, the Arrogance of the Ignorant will be this nations downfall, as they become so mired and permanently entrenched in their belief systems they become unable to recognize what is true or real.” I know there’s always a lot of accusations of projection from right and left, but what you wrote, Schenker, so perfectly fits the incurious, easily led Trump supporters that have fouled our country that I had to point it out.

        • Lucinda, to paraphrase Voltaire, “if Trump did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him”.
          Trump is a polarizing personality, (meaning he is an A-Hole). Trump has made opposition to himself an easy task since his personality and lack of a self-effacing nature make better copy than the more enlightened works of his governance. Trump joined together the Leftist/ Marxist America Haters (modern democrats) and the Crony Capitalist/ Corporatist Industrial Complex (ostensibly the republicans) in opposition to himself unlike none other, despite his obedience to the Corporatist during the so called “pandemic”.(operation warp speed)

          Summary, Trump is a foil, an invention, some might say “controlled opposition”. Failure to not see the larger game doesn’t absolve you, Lucinda, from being played.

          • No conspiracy Lucinda, there are however consequences for being ignorant. Van Morrison recently wrote a song, ” Where have all the Rebels Gone”. Sadly the rebels of yesteryear are now the Establishment or Man. How does that feel Lucinda?

            Lucy have forgotten to question authority? Do you trust the Federal Government? Essential questions here.

    • What don’t you like about our republic Lucinda? It’s not good to have an endowment of liberty from God?

  14. “……..The Alaska Democratic Party declared me unfit for office and demanded that I be expelled…….”
    I’m confused. I thought the civil suit was brought by a liberal RINO, not a Democrat………although I readily admit that there isn’t much difference between a RINO and Democrat.

  15. “Insurrection is a crime. It’s also a crime to try to overthrow the government. Over the last 24 months, how many times have you heard the White House use the word “insurrection” to describe Jan. 6, despite no one even being charged with the crime of insurrection? How many times have you heard that someone or other tried to overthrow the government on Jan. 6, despite no one ever being charged much less convicted of that crime?”

    The more we allow the left to change the very definition of words the further away from truth we go.

    • Well Steve-O, you’ve not given your definition of “insurrection” or the government’s definition so it’s hard to fathom what it is you’re attempting to say, other than gibberish. It does appear that you are relying on a legal definition, as in criminal insurrection, but let me know if I’m mistaken here. We all know on here that you (alone) hold the truth but throw us a bone here and show us your “truth” so we know how far we’ve gotten. Thanks.

      • Bill,
        Like usual you are mistaken. I don’t have or make definitions, dictionaries define words.

        I imagine you are able to find the meanings for words yourself, however I know the difficulty you’ve had with the written word, so if you are unable to find a dictionary please feel free to let me know and I will be happy to oblige.

        • Steve-O, Reggie has given us the Webster definition and perhaps you might even give us your “truth” and show us where government has gone astray with their own definition (whatever you think it is).
          Or just give us some more of your gibberish. Heheh!

          • Bill,
            So are you admittng that you are incapable of looking up a definition for yourself? The offer still stands, just let me know buddy I’m here to help you on your journey of literacy.

          • Steve-O, I recognized Reggie’s definition but you’ve not given us how you think the left has “changed that very definition.” You’ve accused govt. or the left of something but haven’t followed through except with your usual gibberish. In fact, all you’ve got is gibberish IMO.

      • “……..you’ve not given your definition of “insurrection” or the government’s definition…….”
        How about just use the dictionary?: “a violent uprising against an authority or government”, which would include dozens of riots nationwide since May of 2020.

  16. The wheels of Justice may turn slowly, but they also turn inexorably. To those who participated in the violent attempt to stop the election certification on 6 January, be warned. You will be identified, prosecuted, tried, and punished if found guilty. Simple as that. Sleep well, folks.

    • and yet if during the summer of love 2020 if you beat people because of the color of their skin, burned city blocks and robbed people of their lives and property then you will be applauded and celebrated by the dog and other establishment bootlickers

      ACAB unless you shoot an unarmed women through the neck & others working the cap on J6

  17. So, did you all read in the paper the other day, that the glaciers are melting in an alarming rate? Probably bought that too. Maybe they should harvest some off our rooftops. Although David Eastman has never been my favorite politician, mainly because of some of his grandstanding, I will contribute to his legal fund.Because the constitution was actually on trial. Great to see the comments, but while watching the live feed couldn’t help but notice that very few people were following this. Yet look at the commentary. Think what you will about January 6, but unless you were there, you are relying on slanted sources. And Eastman was being prosecuted, and still is, for exercising his constitutional rights. What happens when the tables are turned. The entire world is watching and laughing as we show them a failure of democracy. The present administration, instead of trying to heal and unite, is instead focused on dividing us further. The media is playing along, stirring up old wounds. We are a country without leadership, children playing a game without adult supervision.The foreign powers who have always looked for a way to destroy us are seeing opportunities, since nobody desires to be led by a male general who wears a dress and lipstick. Not to mention having to sign up for the experimental vaccine program. Only a few brave. They are laughing at us. That is why foreign powers are depleting our fisheries, unchecked. And why we in Alaska should start learning Russian and Chinese as a second language. We are living in a fragile environment, and unless we band together and stand for what we all know is right, all of our days are numbered. No real American really cares about what race, color or creed you are and could care less about your sexual preferences, but is it really correct to expect special recognition? No, we are all created equal, what you choose to do with that is your prerogative. I didn’t get to choose what color and where I was born. I learned how to deal with it and changed the things I could and accepted the things I could not. Never wanted special recognition for anything I did or didn’t do, just live and let live. In a free country, you can do these things. We must see what is occurring now is jeopardizing all of us and put aside our petty differences and realize what is really at stake here and now. I don’t, and am sure most of you don’t wish to live in a third world country and it is a shame if your travels have only been to the garden spots. You are like spoiled children. Try taking a trip to a place where the state department does not recommend and you will clearly see where we are heading. Hah, that’s enough finger poking for this old man. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts. May God continue to smile on us. All of US.

  18. The saddest thing in many of these comments is that they do not recognize the Constitutional “right to a speedy trial” and “habeas corpus”. Those Jan 6th people who have been jailed have been denied these Constitutional rights. And many either don’t care , don’t know, or support the suspension of these Constitutional rights. Unfortunately for this Nation, the low- and no-information seem to have the most power and influence.

  19. While the entry into the Capital Building on January 6 was both unfortunate and, frankly, just plain stupid, if you consider who has since benefited the most from it, you have to wonder how much they had to do with instigating it all.

    • If the Dems didn’t instigate it, which I think they did, they sure benefited from it. How better to deflect from the tens of thousands who showed up to protest what was a very flawed election. No focus on fixing that, just prosecute those who think it needs attention so the Dems can keep harvesting all those ballots going out in the mail. Oh, and lets not talk about the postmen being union members who know all too well from the mail we get who votes Republican, no….

  20. The doors were opened, a 2X4 was left under a window, a security guard led them down the hall. Obvious who the real instigators were.

    • I can hear the defense attorney right now, Mr. Collman: “Your honor, the 2 x 4 made the man do it!” The only one who could have made a line like that sell is Ken Kesey, and it would have topped anything you’d find in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest!”

      Are you feasting on “them mushrooms” in the cow pasture, Jim? Wow, how you’ve popped off the rails!

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