With the arrival of the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach, The Epoch Times is set to release a documentary exploring the federal government’s reaction in the days, months, and years afterward.
In The Epoch Times’ first documentary on the subject, released in 2022, “The Real Story of January 6,” senior investigative journalist Joe Hanneman explored the events of Jan. 6, 2021, uncovering stories surrounding the deaths of Rosanne Boyland and Ashli Babbitt, who were among the only direct casualties that day.
Now, in a follow-up set to be released tonight, Hanneman and director Fiona Young explore how federal law enforcement responded to the events, and how it paved the way for a system of “two-tiered justice” in the United States.
Where the first installment focused on the hidden stories of Jan. 6, 2021, the follow-up takes a “more behind-the-scenes look at some of the impacts on families that took place as a result of charges brought against family members,” Hanneman told The Epoch Times.
Jan. 6 was an event whose scope, causes, and long-range effects remain deeply divisive.
Many Republicans say it was at most a riot, blown out of proportion by the federal government and its mainstream media allies.
Democrats say the event constituted an “insurrection” against the U.S. government, alleging that much of the responsibility lies with former President Donald Trump and his allies.
But while much about the event remains disputed, some aspects of it are not.
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) response to Jan. 6 constituted the largest manhunt in U.S. history, capturing many American families in its crosshairs.
More than 1,200 people have been arrested and charged in connection to their actions that day. And the massive manhunt “shows no sign of slowing down,” Hanneman said, with new arrests continuing to make headlines.
Hanneman said that after he investigated the DOJ and FBI response, it became clear to him that Jan. 6 participants and their families are victims of the “weaponization of the federal government.”
Through interviews with Jan. 6 defendants, FBI whistleblowers, and legal analysts, Hanneman reached the conclusion that the reaction to Jan. 6 has amounted to “a two-tiered system of justice.”
The documentary reveals that even as many Americans have forgotten and moved past the events of the day, its aftermath remains a daily burden for many.
In its mad dash to identify and arrest all who entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the FBI diverted from standard operating procedure, the documentary reveals. The agency moved resources away from matters such as child exploitation and violent crime to focus on the round-up of Jan. 6 suspects.
Entire families suffered SWAT raids on their homes. Some have dealt with separation from their spouses, mothers, and fathers for years now. They lost their jobs and income. They suffered a barrage of death threats and hate mail.
Even those who had cooperated with the FBI were subject to SWAT raids, a level of enforcement usually reserved for the most dangerous criminals.
The FBI, whistleblowers allege, used non-standard means to identify suspected January 6ers, relying on uncorroborated anonymous tips and decades-old photographs.
Many of those arrested were sent to the D.C. Metropolitan Jail, dubbed “the gulag” by its critics, a place where they’ve faced separation from family, solitary confinement, verbal and physical harassment by staff, and neglect of their basic needs.
A handful of FBI agents spoke out against this, feeling it would be a violation of their oath to the Constitution to continue cooperating. These agents faced swift retribution, losing their security clearance and their jobs for daring to refuse to march in lockstep with the agency to which they had devoted years of their lives.
The documentary delves into each of these stories, and the ways that lives have been upended by the federal government’s reaction to the event.
The possible effects of this, Hanneman warned, is that we may have entered “an era of thought crimes”; an era during which participating in protests can be criminalized, and First Amendment rights disregarded.
“This is an issue that really everybody should be paying attention to,” Hanneman said when asked why people should tune into the documentary. “Not just on the right, because these kinds of tactics could just as quickly be turned around and used on people who are politically to the left, or libertarian. It’s really something that very quickly could be affecting a huge chunk of society.”
Hanneman said these and other findings presented in the documentary reveal “the need for a new January 6 committee,” dismissing the original Democrat-led Jan. 6 panel as “a propaganda effort.”
Hanneman said he hopes that the upcoming documentary screening before members of Congress will “light a fire” among members to pursue this route.
“The true service to the American people is to really fill this picture out,” he said.
The Epoch Times original documentary “The Real Story of January 6 Part 2: The Long Road Home” will be available to full subscribers starting tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET on EpochTV.
