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ANALYSIS
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 12, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – While the left and mainstream media have rushed to hail the murdered Capitol Policeman as a martyr for the liberal cause, they have collectively ignored certain key facts about his own support of President Trump.
Officer Brian D. Sicknick of the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) was on duty throughout the day on Wednesday, January 6. During some violence outside the Capitol building, he sustained injuries, of which he subsequently died the next evening, 9:30 p.m. on January 7. The official statement from the USCP stated that he “was injured while physically engaging with protesters,” then “returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.”
Reports have suggested that Sicknick was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher. A video from the New York Post appears to show the moment the fire extinguisher hit Sicknick’s head. The rioter who threw the fire extinguisher was wearing a backpack.
“The death of Officer Sicknick will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch, the USCP, and our federal partners,” the USCP said in a statement.
In the aftermath of last Wednesday’s events, Democrats and Republicans have turned on Trump, and Biden went so far as to call the Trump supporters “rioters, insurrectionists, and domestic terrorists.” Whilst there is no denying that some violence occurred, as an unarmed woman was killed by police, others wounded, and police officers reportedly injured, the majority of those gathered were peacefully demonstrating for Trump.
In the face of this, left-wing politicians and the mainstream media have been swift to use Officer Sicknick’s death as a political tool, with the New York Post commenting that “Democratic leaders have presented Sicknick as a martyr of the #Resistance against President Trump and his dangerous supporters.”
The New York Times wrote that Sicknick’s death “exposed one of the many contradictions of the Trump presidency,” saying Trump “incited a riot that led to the death of a member of the law enforcement community.”
Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stated: “The violent and deadly act of insurrection targeting the Capitol, our temple of American Democracy, and its workers was a profound tragedy and stain on our nation’s history. But because of the heroism of our first responders and the determination of the Congress, we were not, and we will never be, diverted from our duty to the Constitution and the American people.”
His death is indeed a tragedy, and his killer must be brought to justice. However, this appropriation of Sicknick’s death by the political left runs directly contrary to the wishes of Sicknick’s family.
In a statement issued to the press on Friday, Sicknick’s brother Ken asked that politics be left out of his brother’s death. “Many details regarding Wednesday’s events and the direct causes of Brian’s injuries remain unknown and our family asks the public and the press to respect our wishes in not making Brian’s passing a political issue,” Ken Sicknick declared.
The family added, “Brian is a hero and that is what we would like people to remember.”
Another question also remains about the circumstances of Sicknick’s injury, as Steven Sund, the former chief of USCP who resigned after Wednesday’s protests, revealed that in-house security officials of the House and the Senate actually refused his own requests for assistance from the National Guard. Sund stated that House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving had concerns about the “optics” of the presence of the National Guard, as well as officials in the Pentagon. Despite six requests from Sund for assistance during the protests, each of those requests was either “denied or delayed.”
“If we would have had the National Guard we could have held them at bay longer, until more officers from our partner agencies could arrive,” Sund said. The Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger, informed Sund that he would ask his boss Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), to accelerate the authorization of the National Guard, but Sund never learnt the result of this.
The light police presence outside the building was also due to the wishes of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who also seemed concerned about optics.
But another aspect about Officer Sicknick himself has been avoided by the left in their use of his death, for though he is being hailed as a “martyr” of the leftist, Democrat cause, he was a staunch supporter of Trump.
Caroline Behringer, a former staffer for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, reported how on their daily encounters outside the Capitol, Sicknick would engage in friendly exchanges about their opposing political affiliations in the run up to the 2016 election: “We would kind of trade jabs about who was going to win and kind of make fun of each other for our sides being in the lead.”
Behringer described Sicknick as “an outspoken Trump supporter.”
He also strongly opposed Trump’s impeachment, writing “letters to his congressman opposing Trump’s impeachment.” Sicknick’s Rep. was Democrat Congressman Donald S. Beyer Jr. Of Virginia.
Presenting a brief history of the man himself, the New York Post explained how Sicknick had much in common with the Trump supporters who are now being heavily censored. Fresh from school, he joined the New Jersey Air National Guard in 1999, deploying to Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan, becoming a “vocal critic” of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
In 2001, Sicknick also expressed his disenfranchisement with the political establishment, regarding a dispute with his employer: “I have written a staggering number of letters to elected officials in both the state and federal governments. Only one state senator responded. This is one of the main reasons I will not be enlisting for a second term in the National Guard. I am no longer going to risk my life in hostile environments for a government that does not care about the troops.”
The Post wrote that “[a]fter serving his country and observing the workings of its government, Sicknick had come to believe that America is governed by a self-interested, unresponsive and unaccountable oligarchy.”
“When they smear Trump voters, they dishonor Officer Sicknick’s memory,” the Post concluded.