Was the January 6th Select Committee an investigation or was it an inquisition? That is a question that has bugged me for over a year and a half as the committee continued to dig into the events of January 6th… What’s the difference?

To investigate is to carry out a systematic or formal inquiry to discover and examine the facts of (an incident, allegation, etc.) so as to establish the truth.

An inquisition is more simply a period of prolonged and intensive questioning or investigation. Notice the word “truth” does not appear in that definition. An inquisition does not seek the truth.

Inquisitions also tend to be biased, with the members of the investigating panel all having a predetermined outcome in mind. In the inquisitions of the early Catholic church, the inquisitors had already determined who would be hung, burned at the stake and tortured even before the questioning began.

The Jan 6th Select Committee, chaired by Rep Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, had no one on the panel that believed Trump did not “do it”. They were all biased. When other members of congress believing he didn’t do it stepped forward to try to join the committee (Rep Jim Jordan and Rep Jim Banks), the chair and Nancy Pelosi denied them a seat. This was not an investigation as much as it was an inquisition…

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying Trump is innocent or guilty of the charges they referred to the DOJ. That’s not for me to say at all. I’m only saying the investigation was not “fair and just” because it was entirely biased against him from the start.

So, what are the charges that the committee referred to the DOJ?

• Obstruction of an official proceeding
• Conspiracy to defraud the United States
• Conspiracy to make false statements to the government
• Insurrection

Now it is up to the DOJ to determine if there is enough evidence to take him to trial. Do you think the DOJ is biased against him too? (I do…)

What do you think? Please reply using the fields below and let me know if you feel the same or differently about this whole investigation.