(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., downplayed the terrorist ambush of National Guardsmen Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe as an “unfortunate accident” during a hearing Thursday with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Thompson, who chaired the House’s controversial Jan. 6 commission during the first two years of the Biden administration, spent months trying to push a false narrative about the mostly peaceful Jan. 6 uprising—at a cost of some $17.4 million to taxpayers.
Yet, he seemed far less concerned by political violence after the actual murder of a law-enforcement officer that occurred near the White House the day before Thanksgiving.
While interrogating Noem at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee, Thompson first dismissed the targeted ambush as an “unfortunate accident” and then doubled down.
“You think that was an unfortunate accident?” Noem replied. “It was terrorist attack. He shot our National Guardsmen in the head!”
Thompson then pivoted to attacking Noem over her criticism of the Biden administration for allowing unvetted Afghan refugees into the country.
“It was an unfortunate situation, but you blamed it solely on Joe Biden … Who approved the asylum application for this same person?”
Thompson regularly demanded accountability for those who assaulted police officers during the mostly peaceful 2021 melee at the U.S. Capitol.
He also has routinely pushed the false claim that law-enforcement officers died as a direct result of the J6 protest.
“I was moved by the courageous testimony of four brave police officers who came to the defense of the Capitol and American democracy on January 6, 2021,” Thompson said in a 2023 statement. “Those heroes asked us for something in that hearing: Hold those responsible for that deadly attack accountable.”
As recently as July, Thompson condemned the appointment of a pardoned J6 convict to a spot at the Justice Department.
“News that a disgraced FBI agent and right-wing extremist charged with encouraging the murder of police officers on January 6 is now working at the Department of Justice is not only an insult to every honorable law enforcement officer across the country — it is an insult to our democracy and all those that have fought to preserve it,” Thompson wrote. “It also makes it clear that political violence won’t just be excused under this administration, it will be celebrated and awarded.”
Thompson ultimately accepted a “preemptive pardon” from the Biden administration for his work on the Jan. 6 committee, suggesting there may have been some criminal wrongdoing involved.
Committee members, including former Rep. Liz Cheney and now-Sen. Adam Schiff, have been accused of several crimes, including witness tampering and the deletion of investigative files.
President Donald Trump has declared all pardons and acts signed by autopen during the Biden presidency to be null and void, meaning the DOJ may pursue prosecution and let the courts sort it out.
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
