Jan. 6’s Wounds in Congress Run Deep, Trump Keeps Them Fresh
Events marking the one-year anniversary of the storming of the Capitol demonstrated the deep scars still left.
(Bloomberg) -- Events marking the one-year anniversary of the storming of the Capitol demonstrated the deep scars left by the day that have deeply divided Congress -- and the country.
They also illustrated the continuing grip of former President Donald Trump on the Republican Party. As lawmakers gathered in the House chamber for recollection of the insurrection one year ago today, the only Republicans spotted were Representative Liz Cheney, who has become isolated in her party because of her persistent criticism of Trump, and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Liz Cheney, who was ousted from her role earlier this year as the No. 3 House Republican, said the absence of other GOP lawmakers was “a reflection of where our party is. It’s very concerning.”
“A party that is in thrall to a cult of personality is a party that is dangerous for the country,” she said in a reference to Trump’s influence, “and I clearly think we have got to get to a place where we are focused on substance and issues of policy.”
Cheney and her father, who served in three Republican presidential administrations, were greeted warmly by some Democrats in the chamber despite sharp disagreements over policy in the past. The former vice president, who once represented Wyoming in the House as his daughter does now, criticized current Republican leaders for not being present.
“It’s not a leadership that resembles any of the folks I knew when I was here for 10 years,” he said.
Aside from the commemorations, the typically bustling Capitol was mostly quiet on Thursday, a stark contrast from Jan. 6 last year when a violent mob of Trump supporters overwhelmed police to storm the building and disrupt certification of the Electoral College vote. Lawmakers, staff and journalists were forced to flee to secure rooms as the crowd invaded offices and attempted to break into the House chamber.
Neither the House nor the Senate planned votes and many Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, were in Georgia for the funeral of former Senator Johnny Isakson, who died Dec. 19. During a half day of speeches to mark the anniversary on the Senate floor, no Republican spoke. Some House Republicans held unrelated events in their districts.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered speeches in the Capitol, the start of a series of events featuring historians and lawmakers giving often solemn or emotional first-hand recollections and views.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed those gathered in the House chamber and later sat for interviews with NBC and CNN to punctuate it all.
“One year later, the sacred place where members legislate, children learn, visitors are welcomed, was defiled and damaged -- we know that,” Pelosi said on the House floor. “As we reflect on that darkest day, we remember that the insurrectionists sought not only to attack the building, but to undermine democracy itself.”
On CNN, Pelosi that while the county must be vigilant to threats to democracy, she was confident the U.S. would emerge from the current divisions.
“It survived the civil war; It can survive the previous president of the United States,” she said.
But the conspiracy theories and false claims of election fraud that sparked the insurrection persist.
Across the street from the Capitol, staunch Trump allies Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia staged some counter-programming with a news conference they billed as a “Republican response to Jan. 6.” They presented a bizarre and unfounded far-right conspiracy theory that the FBI instigated the riot.
“What I want to know, was our government involved and why? Why would they do that?” Greene said.
As the House events were taking place, Trump issued a statement reiterating his claim the 2020 election was rigged.
“Never forget the crime of the 2020 Presidential Election. Never give up!” he said.
Most Republican elected officials avoided repeating the lie of a rigged election but they went out of their way to avoid mentioning Trump’s role in Jan. 6 in their statements about the violence.
Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham accused Biden of politicizing Jan. 6 in a tweet and subsequent statement to distract from his failed economic and foreign policies. It was a departure from Graham’s statements a year earlier where he denounced Trump’s role in the protest.
Some other Republicans, such as Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, decried the violence on that day while also accusing Pelosi and other Democrats of using the anniversary for partisan purposes.
“Instead, she has turned it into political theater designed to distract from the many crises and failures of the Biden administration that are hurting American families like inflation, high gas prices, the border crisis, and Covid mismanagement,” Scalise said.
McConnell in his statement, was clear in denouncing the violence. But he quickly pivoted to attacking Democrats for using the event to try to push through their voting rights bill, which McConnell said is a partisan attempt to federalize elections and build in advantages for Democrats. He said attempts to use Jan. 6 to try to vitiate the Senate filibuster tradition are wrong.
“It is especially jaw-dropping to hear some Senate Democrats invoke the mob’s attempt to disrupt our country’s norms, rules, and institutions as a justification to discard our norms, rules, and institutions themselves,” McConnell said.
By contrast, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump last January at his second impeachment trial, was one of the few Republicans to lay blame on the former president, saying in a statement that he “incited” the mob that stormed the Capitol.
“A year later, the sadness and anger of knowing that it was Americans who breached the center of our democracy, to thwart certification of a lawful election, remains with me,” Murkowski said in her statement.
Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who also voted to convict Trump after the insurrection, warned that the lessons of that day shouldn’t be forgotten.
“Democracy is fragile; it cannot survive without leaders of integrity and character who care more about the strength of our Republic than about winning the next election,” Romney, a vocal critic of Trump, said in a statement.
Senator Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, said it was “tragic” that many Republicans are trying to downplay the significance of the day.
“What happened on Jan. 6th was very clear -- there was a violent attack on the Capitol that was led by insurrectionists who explicit goal was to overturn the free and fair election of President Biden and they were exhorted to go to the Capitol by then-president Trump,” she said on Bloomberg Radio. “That is a direct attack on our democracy; we’ve never seen anything like it before.”
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