STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
An investigator has been thinking about what drives people to violence. He was the lead investigator for the House committee that examined the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and he's been telling NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson about his experience.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Tim Heaphy calls himself a reluctant expert in some of the most searing episodes in recent history. Heaphy is a former prosecutor. He spent years trying to understand how violence descended on his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, during the Unite the Right rally in 2017 and again at the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
TIM HEAPHY: Both Charlottesville and January 6 were really spasms of anger at institutions - anger at government, anger at media, anger at higher education, anger at even science. And that undercurrent, I think, is really what's causing breaches and divisions in this country. And that isn't going anywhere.
JOHNSON: In his new book called "Harbingers," Heaphy reconstructs how both events seemed to elude the grasp of law enforcement, even though they were planned in plain view on social media platforms.
HEAPHY: There was plenty of warning to the planners in Charlottesville and to the folks at the Capitol prior to January 6 that there was real violence potential. Nonetheless, they just did not adequately prepare for that. I think there are a lot of reasons for that, one of which is race.
JOHNSON: He says because the people who massed on the streets in Charlottesville and those who stormed the Capitol were largely white, authorities underestimated the security risks they posed. Heaphy and other national security experts think that's still happening. They cite the FBI's recent arrest of a white man in Virginia who had stockpiled 150 explosives in his home and garage. Heaphy says in the days ahead, he'll be watching whether President-elect Trump fulfills a campaign promise to pardon hundreds of people indicted in the January 6 investigation.
HEAPHY: Every person who has been criminally charged for actions at the Capitol was charged for conduct, not speech. You know, I hear this narrative that people are being punished for their political views. That's just not accurate. Everyone there made an affirmative decision.
JOHNSON: A decision, he says, to step over broken glass and enter the seat of government or to assault a police officer with fists, flagpoles or bear spray. Clemency for those people, Heaphy says...
HEAPHY: The pardoning of clearly criminal conduct, the excusing of it, it could incentivize future riots, future political violence, and that's a frightening thought.
JOHNSON: Heaphy was fired as the general counsel of the University of Virginia by the state's Republican attorney general when he tried to return to work after leading the investigation of January 6 on Capitol Hill. He wasn't given a reason, but he thinks it's because he investigated Trump. The AG staff told reporters at the time, it's common practice for an incoming administration to appoint new staff that share the philosophy and legal approach of the attorney general. Heaphy says that kind of setback only emboldened him to speak out more. He's spent years considering the forces that inspire people to erupt in anger, and he's come to this conclusion.
HEAPHY: I think apathy is a bigger threat to democracy than anger.
JOHNSON: The kind of apathy that leads people to stay home instead of registering to vote or interacting with others in their communities.
HEAPHY: The solution here has to be bottom up, not top down. So I hope people read the book and see it as sort of a call to care, a call to participate, a call to engage.
JOHNSON: Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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