National Police Association spokeswoman Betsy Brantner Smith during an interview with Fox said that the congressional Jan. 6 probe was a “dog and pony show.”
According to their website, the NPA is a non-profit group “created to educate supporters of police in how to help police dept. meet their goals.”
The outlet said that Brantner Smith, a retired sergeant and conservative, said Congress should hear testimony from officers who were hurt during the George Floyd riots that happened in 2020.
“People must see that officers go through terrible things, and Jan. 6 was a terrible thing for some of those police officers,” Brantner Smith stated, as reported by Fox News. “But frankly, I see this whole Commission as a dog and pony show. It does not tell the complete story.”
“As millions of Americans did, I sat there watching the testimony thinking to myself, ‘Wait, where are the officers who to let the protesters in?” she asked. “Where is the officer who killed Ashli Babbitt? In fact, why are we not talking about Ashli Babbitt? I mean there is a lot more here.”
This Tuesday, during the first House hearing of the select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 episode, four police officers spoke about their Jan. 6 experience.
The NPA spokesman said that those police officers are now “politicized by Congress” and although their statements are important, the public also needs to hear about the police who were harmed amid violent riots that happened the previous year.
She mentioned a new survey by Rasmussen Reports and the NPA which showed that 66 percent of possible U.S. voters think Congress should look into the violent riots that happened last year.
“I want Americans to hear about that,” she said. “And based on this survey, they want to hear about it. They want to watch the testimony. You know, there is a Las Vegas officer who was paralyzed from the BLM riots. We have thousands of officers around the nation who are seeking retirement due to post-traumatic stress from these riots.”
“We are reaching a tipping point and I believe yesterday woke some people up — I hope,” Brantner Smith said.
Author: Steven Sinclaire