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Lawmakers emotional after listening to testimonies about Jan. 6 riot [Video]
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- At the first congressional hearing of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, House lawmakers found themselves in tears after listening to the witnesses’ testimonies and watching the videos of the riot.
- Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL.) assured the assaulted police officers that they will get justice.
- Both Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY.) called out their GOP colleagues and urged them to support the investigation.
During the first public hearing on the January 6 Capitol attack probe, House legislators were drying up their tears as they watched the graphic videos of the siege and listened to the testimonies of the witnesses.
Police officers, who served as protectors of the lawmakers inside the legislative building, delivered their emotional testimonies on Tuesday. They narrated their dreaded experiences from stopping a pro-Trump mob who stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of then President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Lawmakers like Representatives Adam Kinzinger (R-IL.), Liz Cheney (R-WY.), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA.) and Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.) were seen wiping away their tears during the event.
Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, one of the witnesses who shared their stories, narrated how he got battered by the rioters with a flagpole and smeared with a chemical spray. As the video of the siege was played at the start of the hearing, he broke down in tears.
Addressing the four officers who gave their testimonies during the hearing, Kinzinger said that they “won” and gave them an assurance that “democracies are not defined by our bad days.”
“We’re defined by how we come back from bad days, how we take accountability for that,” the congressman said.
During their opening remarks, Kinzinger and Cheney addressed their Republican colleagues. They referred to the principles of the GOP and argued why their fellow legislators should back the January 6 investigation.
“I’m a Republican. I’m a conservative,” Kinzinger said in his opening statement. “But in order to heal from the damage caused that day, we need to call out the facts.”
In her own statement, Cheney made a similar tone, saying that she has been “a conservative Republican since 1984” after her first vote for former President Ronald Regan.
“If Congress does not act responsibly, this will remain a cancer on our Constitutional Republic, undermining the peaceful transfer of power at the heart of our democratic system,” she noted, adding that the nation could face the “threat of more violence in the months to come, and another January 6th every four years.”
With Cheney and Kinzinger’s participation in the special commission, some Republican lawmakers have called for their ouster from their committee assignments. In response, Kinzinger said that “if people want to get petty, that’s fine. I think that reflects more on people than it does on the situation at hand.”
Both legislators were the only Republicans who participated in the investigation panel after GOP and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA.) decided to pull out his five nominees after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.) rejected two of them.
Source: Business Insider
Thomas Wayne Kidd Sr.
July 28, 2021 at 2:09 pm
These ignorant bastards will not stop until our nation is destroyed. There was no riot in capital, not enough to warant what so-called educated people are doing to those citizens on January 6,th. This is nothing more than a communist ploy to destroy the American way of life. These damned fools don’t realize that enslavement of the people will include themselves. Wake up people, wake up! An illegitimate administration now sits in the white house, while people comment and talk. Will Americans wake up or will they procrastinate until every freedom is taken away? Darkness covers our once God blessed land. I weep for America the once beacon of liberty!
Carla
July 28, 2021 at 3:47 pm
These idiots are disgraceful. Not once did they intervene when businesses and communities across this country were being looted and burned to the ground. Not once did they do anything to stop the crime wave of violence being perpetrated across this country. then or now. Instead they ratcheted up their rhetoric to escalate the violence against those who have sworn to protect and serve (the police of this great nation) as well as the communities they (congress members) are supposed to serve.
In fact, (Kamala Harris) created a slush fund to be used to bail out the few perpetrators who were jailed. On top of that, you have corrupt democratic prosecutors in the cities where these crimes occurred, who failed, or should I say refused, to prosecute these crimes. No one was held accountable for these crimes, not even murders, unless you happen to be white or a Republican.
But as soon as those in congress felt threatened, then and only then, did they call for accountability.
Furthermore, I find it appalling that the members of this committee, who are all partisan hacks, exaggerated how much danger they really faced that day. All I heard during this hearing was a bunch of bs.
Am I supposed to believe that the officers who testified yesterday faced more trauma from the riot that occurred on Jan. 6th, than they faced during the BLM riots that occurred at the end of Trumps Presidency? Please. Yet not one word was issued about the trauma law enforcement endured during those riots. You know, where many law enforcement officers were pelted by rioters who threw rocks, fireworks, and bottles of frozen water, or where law enforcement faced eye injury from laser beams. Where was their outrage the?
I don’t know who this committee was trying to impress with their tear fest yesterday. For me, their performance lacked sincerity and was a bit over the top. In fact, I found it a bit disgusting. It’s ok if our communities burn down, or if we the people are accosted, but pray tell if it is those in congress who are accosted. Then and only then, should the laws be enforced. People are tired of the rules for thee but not for me attitude coming from the democratic elites.
And finally, I think that the congress members who have been that physiologically traumatized by what happened on Jan. 6th, should find new employment, because the riot that occurred on Jan. 6th doesn’t even come close to comparing the trauma from the riots experienced in communities across this nation.