US double standard set out in black and white

A comprehensive US government report on the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of the previous president was released on Tuesday.

Carefully crafted by the Senate Homeland Security and Rules committees to ensure support from both parties, the 128-page review of what transpired on Jan 6 excludes the word "insurrection" except in quotation marks and footnotes and uses the word "rioters" just 27 times. This flies in the face of the TV footage seen around the world, which showed the mob, intent on stopping the validation of Joe Biden's election as president, violently breaching security lines and breaking into the Capitol building.

The congressional investigators' sugarcoated review belies the written statements from the 50 police officers who defended the Capitol and described how the mob broke into and "vandalized" the Capitol building, "ransacked" offices and "stole property", and how they "attacked members of law enforcement and threatened the safety and lives of our nation's elected leaders".