We watched January 6th with our own eyes! It was not a tourist visit

What America witnessed!

GOP claims about Jan. 6 mar country's integrity

Echo opinion published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

On Jan. 6, I, along with other Americans, watched agog as a large mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and attempted a coup on his behalf. The live TV coverage showed the mob’s violence and the futile attempts of the U.S. Capitol Police to prevent it without any support whatsoever from the military that was under the command of the Trump administration.

Tear Gas outside United States Capitol

Recently, however, three Republican congressional members — U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., and Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas — told me and the world that it had not happened that way. According to them, the crowd was orderly, polite and nonviolent. One said there was no insurrection. In short, despite my seeing the live coverage, I got it wrong. Oh, and others even say that the crowd was not really composed of Trump supporters.

Say what? People were hurt, people died and the Capitol was damaged. Again, I saw this with my own eyes as it was happening. Nevertheless, the current holy writ of the GOP is that Jan. 6 was just a midwinter outing of excited tourists and any violence was the fault of antifa, a nonexistent boogeyman for the far right.

Republicans blocked a January 6 commission study

The attempts to rewrite history are the most dangerous sequelae of the Jan. 6, insurrection. These revisionists and apologists insult my intelligence and that of the millions of other Americans who saw what happened. They do not deserve public office and their lies illustrate why we must prosecute not just the rioters but also those who summoned them to Washington and whipped them up before releasing them like a bullet at the heart of our republic. 

Trump, Brooks, Hawley, Cruz and others must be punished if our republic is to maintain its integrity and vitality.

Robert Adams, North Chesterfield, Virginia