After federal law enforcement officials arrested Brian Cole Jr., the suspect in the Capitol Hill pipe-bombing case, FBI Director Kash Patel spoke at a press conference and appeared eager to boast about the developments.
“When you attack American citizens, when you attack our institutions of legislation, when you attack our nation’s capital, you attack the very being of our way of life,” the bureau’s director declared. “And this FBI and this Department of Justice stand here to tell you that we will always refute it and combat it.”
Well, maybe not always.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but listening to Patel, it was hard not to think of the Jan. 6 rioters who also attacked “our institutions of legislation” and “our nation’s capital.” If memory serves, they were ultimately rewarded with pardons from Donald Trump — with the support of the president’s appointees at the FBI and the Justice Department.
Perhaps this slipped Patel’s mind?
The director’s lack of self-awareness was jarring but familiar. Over the summer, for example, Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks from the House floor about his party’s support for law enforcement. “The idea that those who put their own lives on the line to protect us would be assaulted for doing their jobs is unconscionable,” the Louisiana Republican said, seemingly unaware of the GOP’s support for insurrectionists who violently assaulted police officers.
Four days after Johnson’s speech, in a very different context, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declared from her lectern, “This administration wants anyone who has ever committed a crime to be held accountable.”
That certainly sounded nice, but there were some rather glaring problems with the sentiment. For one thing, the president is a convicted felon who wasn’t especially interested in being held accountable. For another, while it’d be great if the administration wanted accountability for criminals, there’s the inconvenient fact that Trump keeps pardoning criminals, including violent felons who attacked police officers on Jan. 6, which made sure they weren’t held accountable. A month earlier, U.S. Customs and Border Protection used its social media platform to issue a statement that read, “Let this be clear: Anyone who assaults or impedes a federal law enforcement officer or agent in the performance of their duties will be arrested and swiftly prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Attack a cop, and life long consequences will follow!” These sentiments should apply to Jan. 6, but as far as Team Trump is concerned, they don’t. So while Patel appears to have conveniently forgotten about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, he has an regrettable amount of company. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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