Caroline Edwards is an American officer of the United States Capitol Police.  I don’t know what her politics are or were.  I don’t know if she supported Trump or Biden in the presidential election of 2022.  There is no evidence that I know which would suggest that she was “a woke Lib.” But she was there and she was attacked. She was one of the first officers to be attacked by the mob that day. She knows what happened and was an independent witness.

Edwards was one of the first witnesses at the House Select Committee hearings in the summer of 2022. She signalled on the police radio that her first responder unit had been attacked by the mob.  She reported to them that the officers were being overrun by the mob and that she had personally engaged in battle with the rioters for 4 hours on the hill that day.

As the mob pressed against the officers, she was pushed over by a Trumpster and reported to her superiors that the police were being overrun.

One of the mob, Ryan Samsel, pushed a bike rack over her and as a result Edwards hit her head on a handrail. As a result, she suffered a concussion but when she awoke minutes later and she continued her defense, engaging with the mob in hand-to-hand-combat for about 4 hours. She testified about the attack to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack in the summer of 2022 and was later awarded the Presidential Medal for her services to the country.

Officer Caroline Edwards testified that she was part of a small group of officers trying to hold the line of bike racks. She heard rioters chanting “Fuck you Antifa.” I guess they thought she was a fake police official to hide her true identity as a member of Antifa.  She said she had participated in about a hundred events of civil unrest and she knew when she was being turned into the villain. She told her Sergeant what she called the understatement of the century, “I think we need some more people.” She movingly testified,

“what I saw was a war scene…I couldn’t believe my eyes there were officers on the ground. They were bleeding they were throwing up. I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people’s blood. I was catching people as they fell…It was carnage. It was chaos…Never in my wildest dreams did I think as police officer, as a law enforcement officer  I would find myself in the middle of a battle. I am trained to handle a couple of subjects and to contain a crowd but I am not combat trained and that day was just hours of hand-to-hand combat, hours of anything way beyond what any law enforcement officer is trained for. I just remember that moment of stepping behind the line and seeing the absolute war zone the west front had become.”

Another video shown at the hearing revealed the rioters asserting that they were invited there  by the President of the United States! One of the rioters, Robert Schornack said “what really made me want to come, you know, I had supported president Trump all that time, and I did believe you know that the election was being stolen, and Trump asked us to come. Schornack  was sentenced to 36 months probation for his part in the riot.

Eric Barber, another rioter charged with theft and unlawful demonstrations in the Capitol said, referring to president Trump, said  “he personally asked us to come to D.C. that day. And for everything he has done for us, and if this is the only thing he has asked of us, I’ll do it.” Spoken like a true Trumpster. He was also found guilty.

Other rioters said the same thing. They came because president Trump asked them to come and things were going to happen that day. Trump summoned the Trumpsters and many of them came. Many of them have now been charged and found guilty and sentenced for their efforts.

This was indeed a riot.