Sen. Johnson Praises New Epoch Times Jan. 6 Documentary at Capitol Screening

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) speaks at the congressional screening and premiere of the Epoch Times documentary “The Real Story of Jan. 6, Part 2: The Long Road Home,” at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 9, 2024. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) praised The Epoch Times’ new documentary exploring the events of Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and their effects on American life.

The documentary, “The Real Story of Jan. 6 Part 2: The Long Road Home," was screened at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 9 in an event hosted by Mr. Johnson.

The documentary is available online now for Epoch Times subscribers.

Released on the third anniversary of the “Stop the Steal” rally, the documentary is the long-awaited sequel to “The Real Story of Jan. 6.“

Both the original documentary and the sequel were researched and narrated by Epoch Times senior investigative journalist Joe Hanneman.

While the original documentary explored the events of Jan. 6, 2021, themselves, the sequel explores how the aftershocks of Jan. 6 have changed the United States.

Mr. Johnson extolled the documentary, saying it continued the process of trying to get answers to the many lingering questions about Jan. 6.

“We haven’t even begun to be told the full story, which means the truth about January 6,” Mr. Johnson said in his opening.

“They always say, ‘To the victor, go the spoils.’ The victor writes the history. And unfortunately, in November 2020, Democrats had the full suite. They’re the ones that had power, and they wrote the history of January 6.”

After taking control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, Democrats began to push the narrative that Jan. 6 constituted an attempted “insurrection” against the U.S. government.

This narrative of events was the one pushed by the now-defunct House Jan. 6 panel. This narrative left several questions—deaths, possible police misconduct, the role played by undercover law enforcement agents, and the Capitol’s general lack of security preparedness that day—unanswered.

“There are so many questions that haven’t even been asked, much less answered, to get the full story—to get the full truth,” Mr. Johnson said.

“There’s just so many unanswered questions. I just have to thank The Epoch Times for being those journalists that are utilizing our First Amendment rights to freedom of the press, freedom of speech, being the honest broker in terms of trying to expose and tell the American people the truth.

“And all I could ask of anybody here in the audience or listening in a later video tape is please try and find out what the truth is, discern it. Look up sites like The Epoch Times, subscribe.”

‘A Game Changer’

Members of the audience who attended the screening were equally enthusiastic about it.

Armstrong Williams, host of “The Armstrong Williams Show,” called the documentary “a game changer.”

“Listen, if you care about truth, if you care about honor, if you respect the Constitution, you should at least watch this documentary, because it would be a game changer for you,” he told The Epoch Times. “Information is powerful. And knowledge gives you the strength and the courage to seek the truth.”

Jeff Clark, former assistant attorney general under President Donald Trump and a co-defendant in President Trump’s Georgia election case, agreed.

“I think everyone should want to be well-informed,” he said. “Everyone in America is subjected to a steady diet of the official narrative cooked up with the mainstream media and the January 6 committee, and watching a movie like this would help people to get a broader perspective. And then they can start to ask questions, and then they can start to ask for a balanced investigation by Congress.”

Darrell Smith, a Washington-based defense contractor, also praised the film.

“I’m glad The Epoch Times is putting this stuff out there because there are so many things that are not in the public realm,” Mr. Smith said. “This is the kind of information the public needs to see so they could make their own opinions.”

Rita Solon, a board member of a Jan. 6 defendant advocacy group, called the documentary “brilliant.”

“It shows a lot of the disparity between what we’ve been told and what we’re really discovering,” she said.

Ms. Solon and others praised the documentary’s focus on the human impacts of the DOJ’s vast post-Jan. 6 prosecutorial net.

“This film showed some real impacts that the families have had to go through and the courage they’re showing as victims,” Ms. Solon said.

Noel Fritsch, a publisher at National File, agreed, citing the stories of FBI whistleblowers who faced swift and harsh retaliation for speaking out against the FBI’s Jan. 6 response.

“I think it’s a good introduction to some of the human interest stories Mr. Hanneman covered to introduce the idea that some of these people trying to do their jobs. Folks like [FBI whistleblower Garrett] O'Boyle,” he said. “These guys are federal agents trying to do their job and obviously got drummed out for trying to do their job. This is very good introductory coverage of the January 6 events ... and the aftermath, from the perspective of people who were there and then tasked with enforcing this nonsense with the federal government.”

Panel Discussion

The changes to the core fabric of American life in the wake of Jan. 6 were the key topic of discussion for panelists who spoke after the event.

The panel, led by “American Thought Leaders” host Jan Jekielek, included experts from a variety of relevant fields.

Among them was Tom Speciale, former senior collection strategist for domestic terrorism at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s National Counterterrorism Center, who appeared in the documentary. Mr. Speciale spoke from personal experience about how federal law enforcement and intelligence have changed in recent years.

Another panelist was Bill Shipley, a 21-year veteran of the Department of Justice (DOJ) turned defense attorney. Mr. Shipley, who has defended dozens of clients caught up in the DOJ’s vast prosecutorial net after Jan. 6, 2021, spoke at length about how the department has altered its normal processes since then.

They were joined by Heritage Foundation Oversight Project Director Mike Howell and Mr. Hanneman.

(L–R) Jan Jekielek, Epoch Times senior editor and host of "American Thought Leaders"; film host and writer Joe Hanneman; national security expert Tom A. Speciale; Mike Howell, director of the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project; Sarah McAbee, wife of Jan. 6 detainee “Colt” McAbee; and defense attorney William Shipley at the congressional screening and premiere of Epoch Times documentary “The Real Story of January 6 Part 2: The Long Road Home” at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 9, 2024. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

The panelists touched on how policy and operating changes in the DOJ had become rampant in regard to Jan. 6 defendants—from the methods of obtaining evidence to the use of tactical squads to arrest people on misdemeanor charges to the charges pressed against defendants.

SWAT Teams

More than 1,250 people have been arrested since Jan. 6, 2021, in connection with the events of that day. The broad majority of those arrested have faced misdemeanor charges, primarily related to illegally trespassing on restricted federal grounds. Some have faced more serious felony charges such as obstruction of an official proceeding, a statute related to obstruction of justice that has been expanded to fit the events of Jan. 6.

Several people—including those charged only with misdemeanors—have faced arrest by a SWAT team dynamic entry. This, according to former FBI Special Agent Stephen Friend’s comments in the documentary, is by no means common.

Former FBI Special Agent Stephen Friend said working for the bureau was his "dream job." Courtesy of Stephen Friend

Mr. Hanneman said he found this fact the most interesting in his investigations into Jan. 6.

“That’s previously unheard of, going in and acting like they [the SWAT operators] were in danger,” he said. “And I’ve heard that from many, many defendants. They said they looked in the eyes of the tactical agents that were coming in, and they felt like they possibly were gonna get shot and killed and that they were the ones in danger.”

In Mr. Speciale’s view, the point of this extreme enforcement was “to defame conservatives.”

“This was about the destruction of the conservative movement in the United States,” he said, noting that the extreme enforcement around Jan. 6 defendants was to present the narrative that they were dangerous “domestic extremists” as part of the FBI’s larger goal of obtaining a domestic terrorism statute from Congress.

Mr. Shipley said the blame for these methods lies not with the FBI but with the DOJ, which “got off the hook” by making it appear to be an FBI decision.

Rather, he said, the blame for dynamic SWAT team entries rests with the DOJ.

Normally, Mr. Shipley explained, those charged with a crime—including, in many cases, a felony—would receive a summons to come to court. Only on some occasions would charges rise to the level of an arrest warrant, which requires the FBI to come to a suspect’s house and make an arrest.

Defense attorney William Shipley said the Department of Justice has used the obstruction law like a massive hammer against Jan. 6 defendants. Paulio Shakespeare/The Epoch Times

In the case of Jan. 6 defendants, he said, the DOJ has pushed relentlessly for arrest warrants against defendants—leading even those facing simple misdemeanor charges to undergo the nightmare of a SWAT team arrest.

‘That Pesky Thing Called the Constitution’

The outcome of this, and the goal of it, is “a direct attack against our Constitution” and First Amendment rights by pushing for a domestic terrorism statute, according to Mr. Speciale.

The federal law enforcement community has consistently pushed the narrative that homegrown terrorism is the largest threat facing Americans.

However, past whistleblower allegations have claimed that law enforcement has artificially inflated the number of domestic extremist incidents to bolster this narrative.

This falls in line with federal law enforcement’s larger goal of suppressing speech, according to Mr. Speciale.

“It is a direct assault against the First Amendment,” he said. “The FBI knows that it cannot arrest people for their thoughts. They want to be able to arrest you for thinking things or saying things, but they can’t because of that pesky thing—and literally, I heard this from FBI agents and senior agents—because of that pesky thing called the Constitution and the First Amendment.

“It stands in the way of them ’saving' us.”

The Epoch Times original documentary “The Real Story of Jan. 6 Part 2: The Long Road Home” is available now to full subscribers on EpochTV.