‘Actually, They Did’: January 6 Insurrection Becoming Flashpoint in This Election
‘Actually, They Did’: January 6 Insurrection Becoming Flashpoint in This Election
Trump flat-out lied about the riot during interview
Nearly four years later — and after a long effort by Republicans to whitewash it — the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021, has begun to emerge as a cogent issue in this year’s elections.
Egged on by Donald Trump that day, thousands of his supporters stormed the US Capitol building in a brutal, riotous attack to try to illegally prevent the lawful certification of Democrat Joe Biden from becoming the next president of the United States.
The insurrectionists beat police officers defending the Capitol, including some who used weapons. Members of Congress worried for their safety, as security officers kept the mob at bay, at gunpoint.
Some outside erected a gallows and chanted, “Hang Mike Pence,” the vice president who would defy Trump’s wishes and uphold the US Constitution and continue to certify the 2020 election.
However, in the months and years since, many Republicans have gone on a coordinated disinformation campaign to downplay the events of that day, trying to sweep the first non-peaceful transfer of power in US history under the rug.
Despite those efforts, however, the menacing events of that day are becoming an issue in the 2024 elections, just weeks away.
CNN journalists called out Trump, in no uncertain terms, after he lied his way through an explanation of January 6 Tuesday during an interview with Bloomberg News.
Trump had falsely claimed that the entire event had been peaceful and patriotic, despite Americans having watched the riot in real time just a few years earlier on live TV.
Among his lies, the former president claimed that none of the rioters had had firearms.
“Actually, they did. Just to be clear. And almost everything he said there is untrue. But we are well aware now of some of the weapons that some of the folks there were carrying that day,” said CNN host Brianna Keilar, before going to reporter Kristen Holmes for more details.
Holmes noted that Trump left the White House and refused to appear for the peaceful transfer of power to his successor — in a serious break with tradition.
“Well, I mean, the other thing I just want to point out, just when it comes to January 6 and the peaceful transition of power, which there was not a peaceful transition of power, is he also talked about how he got on a plane and went down to Florida,” she said. “He is referring to what he did before inauguration, but he also broke precedent there by essentially storming out and going to Florida and not staying through the transition of power, something that we have seen for decades and through cycles and cycles of various presidents.”
Meanwhile, the insurrection became a point of contention during a debate between Republican Sen Ted Cruz of Texas, and his Democratic opponent, Rep Colin Allred.
Cruz had been one of the leaders inside the Capitol on January 6 pursuing an effort to try to get Republican lawmakers not to vote to certify Biden’s lawful election.
Caught in a tight race for reelection, Cruz wouldn’t answer questions about his role in January 6 directly.
“That was really something. I have to say, you can’t be for the mob on January 6 and for the officers. You can’t. And it’s not funny. Because you’re a threat to democracy,” Allred said, as Cruz began smiling.
Allred went on to describe his memories of January 6.
“I was on the House floor when we went through the votes. I remember when you objected to the results in Arizona,” Allred told Cruz, before turning his attention. “Y’all at home might remember where you were on January 6, what you were doing. I know where I was and I know where he was. I remember when they told us to reach under our seats for these gas masks I didn’t know we had, because they deployed tear gas in the rotunda. The officers locked all the doors. We barred the doors the president walks through to deliver the State of the Union with furniture that we usually use to hold paper.
“I texted my wife Aly, who was seven months pregnant with our son Cameron, at home with our son Jordan who wasn’t yet two, ‘Whatever happens. I love you,’” Allred recalled. “I took off my suit jacket and I was prepared to defend the House floor from the mob. At the same time, after got around the country lying about the election, after he’d been the architect of the attempt to overthrow that election, when that mob came, Senator Cruz was hiding in the supply closet. And that’s okay. I didn’t want him to get hurt by the mob. I really don’t.
“This election is accountability. You cannot just be patriotic when your side wins. If for the first time in 250 years, this project of ours, this shared American project, that we did not have a peaceful transfer of power, the folks responsible have to be held accountable,” he added.
Allred noted that former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney — and a fierce Trump critic — crossed the political aisle to endorse him over Cruz.
“That’s why Liz Cheney, who has endorsed me as she got involved in this campaign, is saying to Texans everywhere, ‘Do not put Ted Cruz back in a position of authority because he’s done it once, he’ll do it again,’” he said.
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