Democrat Drums Up Support for Resolution to Censure Three Republicans for Downplaying Capitol Riot

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Last updated on May 15th, 2021 at 08:12 pm

Representative David Cicilline (D-R.I.) wrote a letter to his fellow lawmakers arguing that a resolution will be forthcoming to censure three House Republicans for the role they played in downplaying the severity of the January 6 storming of the United States Capitol.

The resolution would censure Republican Representatives Andrew Clyde (Ga.), Jody Hice (Ga.), and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) for remarks they made during Wednesday’s House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing into the event.

“These three members dangerously mischaracterized what happened that day and showed more sympathy for the domestic terrorists than the Capitol Police officers who died during the attack,” Cicilline wrote.

“The members who testified that January 6th was ‘not an insurrection’ and undermined the damage that was done put their own political agendas above their country. In doing so, they recklessly disregarded the future harm they could cause by legitimizing a violent attack on our democratic institutions – a conscious and harmful decision calling into question their dedication to their role as Representatives,” he added, arguing that the expulsion of 17 members of Congress during the Civil War offered sufficient precedent to censure the aforementioned Republicans for their behavior.

“This body took action to hold disloyal members accountable for undermining our democracy and violating the oath they took to defend and protect the constitution. The same holds true today. We cannot allow this abhorrent mischaracterization to go unchecked,” he wrote.

Clyde stoked controversy when he stated that footage of rioters storming the Capitol looked like “a normal tourist visit.” Hice claimed that “it was Trump supporters who lost their lives that day, not Trump supporters who were taking the lives of others” despite the fact that several members of the Capitol Police were severely injured, with one later dying, as a result of the attack. Gosar also stressed that Officer Brian Sicknick, who died the evening after the attack, died of “natural causes,” citing reports that he’d suffered a stroke after sustaining injuries.