A Closer Look at the NY Times Game-Changing J6 Lie

Times Published the Fire Extinguisher Murder Saga Knowing It Was False

Veteran and Trump supporter, US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick

As I was researching my May 14 column, “‘Concrete Evidence’ That January 6 Was a Planned Disaster,’” it dawned on me that the New York Times knowingly lied about Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and perpetuated that lie as long as its editors could get away with it.

The immediate impact of that lie was to mute almost all public support for the protestors and shut down any serious discussion about the reason for the protest. This became clear on January 8, 2021, when Twitter “permanently suspended” sitting President Donald Trump “in context of the horrific events this week.”

The most serious lasting injury any law enforcement officer suffered that day was the loss of a fingertip, likely from the mishandling of munitions. That does not exactly qualify as “horrific.” What does qualify as horrific is the fate of Officer Sicknick, at least as reported by the New York Times.

In an early January 8 article headlined, "Capitol Police Officer Dies From Injuries in Pro-Trump Rampage," the Times reported “pro-Trump rioters overpowered Mr. [Brian] Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher.” In a second article later on January 8, the reporters added this grisly detail, “With a bloody gash in his head, Mr. Sicknick was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support. He died on Thursday [January 7].”

Credit here goes to independent Journalist Glenn Greenwald for preserving the original version of these articles—the current online versions are hopeless mishmashes. On January 11, the Times stuck to its version of Officer Sicknick’s death, "Law enforcement officials said he had been 'physically engaging with protesters' and was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher."

By January 11, if not before, everyone in the DC media following this story should have known the Times account was garbage, but even powerful publications like the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post uncritically followed along.

Sicknick, in fact, was alive and well on the night of January 6. He had not been rushed out of the Capitol “with a bloody gash in his head.” Video evidence would later prove this to be true beyond doubt, but even in the moment, the Times had no excuse for overlooking so much hard evidence.

Flag flies at half staff for the “murdered” Brian Sicknick

Prompted by accounts “circulated on social media that a Capitol Police officer had succumbed to grave injuries,” ProPublica’s J. David McSwane reached out to Sicknick’s brother Ken on January 7. As the Sicknick family drove to Washington to see the critically ill Brian, Ken told McSwane, “He texted me last night [January 6] and said, ‘I got pepper-sprayed twice,’ and he was in good shape.”

On January 7, Capitol Police union chair Gus Papathanasiou told CNN, accurately as it turned out, “[Sicknick] had a stroke. I think he’s on life support. We’ve got some misinformation on that. He’s on life support from what I’m hearing.”

Authorities sat on the autopsy report until forced out by a Judicial Watch lawsuit

Later that evening, the US Capitol Police (USCP) reshaped the story to fit an emerging narrative: “At approximately 9:30 p.m. this evening (January 7, 2021), United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty.” Although the press release was vague about the nature of those injuries, it implicitly rejected the “bloody gash” story, conceding that Sicknick “returned to his division office and collapsed.”

It was likely after Sicknick’s death on January 7 that “two law enforcement officials” reached out to the Times. These were almost assuredly higher-ups in the deeply politicized ranks of the USCP’s Intelligence division. This was a brazen act. The officials took a rumor that had been floating around since late on January 6 and tied it to Sicknick’s unfortunate death.

J6er and former NYPD officer Sara Carpenter got a sneak preview of this impending fraud late on the afternoon of January 6. Driving home to New York, Carpenter called an old friend who lived not far from I-95 in Maryland. When Sara mentioned she had been at the Capitol, her friend started screaming, “You killed somebody.” The “you” referred to the protestors. “You killed a Capitol Police officer with a fire extinguisher.”

The woman’s husband had once been a Capitol Police officer. Carpenter presumed he had inside information. “It sent me reeling,” she said. “I never felt so sick in my life.” Carpenter’s reaction anticipated how conservatives nationwide would respond to the “news” their allies had murdered a police officer.

In a February 12, 2001, article, Julie Kelly documented how sheepishly the weaker sisters on the political right accepted the Time’s nonsense. National Review’s Andrew McCarthy suggested Sicknick should be the “face of impeachment.” The Washington Examiner’s Tina Lowe accused Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) of inciting the “murder” of Officer Sicknick. Said then Sen. Mitt Romney, “I hope the perpetrator who claimed Officer Sicknick’s life is brought to justice.”

A month after the Sicknick’s death, former Republican Joe Scarborough called Trump a “cop killer” and demanded impeachment, saying, “When you . . . bash police officers’ brains with fire extinguishers, you don’t get a mulligan.” Speaking of impeachment, the House impeachment managers made the case in a pre-trial memorandum that the “insurrectionists killed a Capitol Police officer by striking him in the head with a fire extinguisher.”

For more than 100 days, authorities sat on the medical examiner’s report to sustain the politically useful fraud, but even before its release the holes in the story had become too big to ignore. On February 2, CNN finally noticed that no one had been charged with Sicknick’s death. “Authorities have reviewed video and photographs that show Sicknick engaging with rioters amid the siege,” lamented CNN, “but have yet to identify a moment in which he suffered his fatal injuries.”

They would never find that moment. With a little breathing room as “vexed” authorities scrambled to find evidence, the Times continued to super spread the fire extinguisher fable, adding on March 24 the comically insufficient caveat, “New information has emerged regarding the death of the Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick that questions the initial cause of his death provided by officials close to the Capitol Police.”

The Times still employs the three reporters responsible for the January 8 article—Mike Baker, Marc Santora, and Megan Specia. They have never apologized. Neither has the Times. To compensate, someone might want to share the name of the “law enforcement officials” that spawned an impeachment, the silencing of the president, and the slandering of thousands of J6ers. Government officials who deceive you are owed no special confidence.