Big lies of the left

 Mark Tapscott:

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It was the Times that first reported that Capitol Hill Police (CHP) Officer Brian Sicknick died as a result of being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Every news organization in America and reporter covering Congress (yes, including me) echoed that story, which, according to the archived version held by Snopes, reported early January 8 the following:

The circumstances surrounding Mr. Sicknick’s death were not immediately clear, and the Capitol Police said only that he had “passed away due to injuries sustained while on duty.” At some point in the chaos — with the mob rampaging through the halls of Congress while lawmakers were forced to hide under their desks — he was struck with a fire extinguisher, according to two law enforcement officials.

And why wouldn’t other news organizations repeat the story: After all, it’s the New York Times and it has “two law enforcement officials” as sources. New York Times. Two sources. In law enforcement. The Old Grey Lady. Gotta be accurate, right?

Wrong.

After months of delay, the medical examiner for the District of Columbia finally made public the true cause of Sicknick’s death — the man had two strokes and died of natural causes.

In reporting the medical examiner’s conclusion two days ago, the Associated Press — the other “Bible” of American journalism — offered this observation:

But the determination of a natural cause of death means the medical examiner found that a medical condition alone caused his death — it was not brought on by an injury. The determination is likely to significantly inhibit the ability of federal prosecutors to bring homicide charges in Sicknick’s death.

I’ll return to this AP graph shortly. But let’s get honest about what the Times now owes, not just to its millions of readers, but to every journalist in America who repeated the Times fire extinguisher claim, and to every American citizen who wants to know the truth about the events of January 6.

The Times has “updated” its original story to reflect the successive revisions to the original, including the claim that maybe it was bear spray that killed Sicknick. But nowhere has the Times published the apology it owes America.

It’s not as if there is no precedent for such an apology. Google “New York times apologizes for Iraq coverage” and the first item in the results takes you here. Note that the editors then did not apologize.

This time they should specifically apologize and do so in detail. Beginning with the names of the two law enforcement sources the Times claims were behind the fire extinguisher lie.

Understand something here when I say that: I’ve been an investigative editor and reporter for years, and I empathize with Times editors and reporters concerning the challenges that come with sorting out fact from fiction in the nation’s Capitol.

One thing you don’t do, ever, as a journalist is burn credible sources. These two “law enforcement” sources aren’t that. They should be identified in public and held accountable. They told the nation’s most imminent newspaper a lie, knowing full well that it would be repeated as fact throughout the media.

But it’s not just the Times that has a stake here. The Department of Justice can forget about charging Julian Khater of Pennsylvania and George Pierre Tanios of West Virginia — linked on video to the bear spray element of the story — with any criminal responsibility for Sicknick’s death. Assault on a police officer, maybe, but not causing his death.

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I think they pushed these stories because the left was desperate to make a case for insurrection.  They were so desperate they were willing to believe at best hearsay statements to reporters.  Tapscott is right that the sources for this story should be burned.

See, also:

Laura Ingraham calls systemic racism the Left's 'big lie'

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 "The Left — it's always committed to use this case in any instance of white cops having bad interactions with black Americans to reinforce the same big lie," Ingraham said. "Mainly that America’s this systemically racist place. It's a country where black people are targeted and in constant danger. They can never get ahead. So that lie, what does it do? It drives us apart, and it sends so many Americans back into their respective corners and cuts off conversations. It doesn’t start them."

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President Biden without evidence claimed that Floyd's death was evidence of systemic racism.  However, there was no evidence at the trial indicating that racism had anything to do with Floyd's death.  None.