GOP’s 'whitewashing' of Jan. 6 insurrection made Trump’s comeback possible: report

Three years after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol that resulted in the historic second impeachment of a defeated former President Donald Trump, the ex-president is now the odds-on favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination, and is in a statistical tie with President Joe Biden for the November general election.

According to a new Washington Post report, Trump's comeback was only possible with the help of the Republican Party's years-long campaign of revisionism regarding the events of January 6.

"When I resigned on Jan. 6, if you would have told me that people would have been whitewashing the events of the day or spreading all kinds of conspiracy theories, I would not have believed you," former Trump White House deputy press secretary Srah Matthews told the Post. "We all saw the footage. We saw these people violently attacking police officers. To whitewash and downplay the events is so frustrating because if they took place in any other country, we would be calling it a coup attempt."

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That "whitewashing" campaign has played out in recent years in both the halls of Congress and in the media. Former Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson — whose show was once the #1 most-watched cable news program — played a large part in creating a new narrative about the deadly insurrection. A 2021 documentary Carlson made about January 6 was widely panned for promulgating debunked conspiracy theories.

The Post chronicled Carlson's casting of capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt (who was shot and killed by a US Capitol Police Department officer after she attempted to jump through a window into a room where members of Congress were hiding) "as a martyr." Carlson interviewed Babbitt's widower, who echoed Carlson's calls to identify the officer who fired the fatal shot at his wife. Eventually, Trump himself referred to Babbitt — who flew from San Diego to Washington, DC in the midst of a deadly pandemic, pushed through multiple police lines, breached the US Capitol building and was only stopped just a few hundred feet away from federal elected officials — as a "truly incredible person" whose memory would live on "for all time."

Far-right Reps. Andrew Clyde (R-Georgia), Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) also played a significant role in laundering the events of January 6. Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, recalled to the Post how Gosar — who spoke at multiple "Stop the Steal" rallies leading up to January 6 — was initially the only member of Congress who would meet with her.

Later, Clyde, whom the Post recalled helped barricade the doors of the House of Representatives, dismissed the riot as "a normal tourist visit." Gaetz, Gohmert and Greene tried to visit jailed January 6 defendants but were turned away. Former Gaetz speechwriter Darren Beattie appeared on both former White House advisor Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast and later on Carlson's show to spread the falsehood that fellow rioter Ray Epps, who egged on insurrectionists, was a federal informant (the DOJ has said repeatedly Epps never worked with or for the agency). Gaetz and Greene both shared Beattie's interview on social media, and Gosar read parts of it into the official congressional record.

READ MORE: Ex-federal prosecutor: Jan. 6 defendants' 'useful idiot' strategy won't work for Trump

Trump, for his part, has heaped praise on January 6 defendants, and has promised that if elected to a second term, he would issue pardons to a bulk of them. He has repeatedly referred to rioters as "hostages" and "political prisoners," and even launched his 2024 campaign by playing "Justice for All," sung by the "J6 prison choir."