John Pierce is an attorney for one of the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and his attempts to mansplain what transpired on that day to CNN host Abby Phillip got him fact-checked on real time during a Thursday appearance on the network.
Pierce was combative from the get-go, chastising Phillip for her introduction.
“I would actually take some issue with the language in some of your lead up about, you know, folks storming the Capitol,” he remarked. “January 6 was a very complex event. There were a lot of people who engaged in various kinds of conduct.”
Phillip asked Pierce if his client was “remorseful about his actions on January 6.”
The attorney replied:
“I think there are certain things that he wish had happened differently, but you know, the trial laid out very clearly that he was there to have his voice be heard, he was there to protect other people. There is very clear evidence that there was excessive force by police officers and he was trying to assist an elderly person who was being beaten by batons when he was on the ground.”
That led Phillip to interject, “Look, I have to stop you there because, honestly, we watched what happened on January 6, okay? And you can make sort of legalistic arguments about what exactly your client was convicted of and what he was not, [but] there’s no question that there was violence at the Capitol, that officers were assaulted on that day. There’s no question about that. There’s also no question that your client was participated in pushing back against law enforcement officers who were doing their jobs.”
Pierce: “The narrative that, with all due respect to your network, sometimes has been pushed, that this was a, you know, just a violent event that—there was violence on both sides.”
The host countered, “No, no, no. It was a violent event. Look, it was a violent event. Police officers were there doing their jobs.”
Instead of conceding the point, Pierce continued to push his lies:
“Trust me Abby, some of the police officers were not doing their jobs. Some of the police officers were going way beyond doing their jobs, including unjustified lethal force, okay? January 6 is not as simple…”
Phillip held her ground, telling the attorney, “John, a mob was attacking the Capitol. They were trying to break into the chamber. Some of them were armed. Many of them assaulted police officers to the point of permanent, long-term injury.”
And that’s when Pierce became a condescending jerk.
“You have to let me finish. The vast majority… I know this stuff better than you, with all due respect. Way better. The vast majority of individuals who were on the Capitol grounds were there and they were peaceful.”
Twitter users hailed Phillip for refusing to let Pierce gaslight viewers.
