January 6: "Take time to thank these courageous men and women who are working so hard to keep us safe", Senator Susan Collins

Thank you to the heroes who saved American democracy during the January 6th insurrectionist attacks on the US Capitol.

L-R: Aquilino Gonell, Michael Fanone, Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges. Police recount mayhem and 'attempted coup' in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6. They were beaten, taunted with racial insults, heard threats including "kill him with his own gun" and thought they might die.

WASHINGTON, DC (AP) — Echo report by Mary Clare Jalonick 

The U.S. Senate voted to award Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for protecting Congress during the January 6, insurrection, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden for his signature.

Under the bill, which passed by voice vote with no objections, there will be four medals — to be displayed at the Capitol Police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Capitol and the Smithsonian Institution.

Hundreds of officers from the two police departments responded to the attack and dozens of them were beaten and injured as the mob of #TFG Trump’s supporters pushed past them to break into the building and interrupt the certification of Biden’s election. 

Nearly miraculously, the police and National Guard troops eventually cleared the building and the vote count resumed.

The well deserved medals are “a recognition that will be on display for people to understand and remember what these officers did,” Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said in an interview with The Associated Press, shortly before she called up the bill for passage.

While introducing the legislation, Klobuchar said children of the future will be able to walk by and see the medals in the Smithsonian, and their parents will tell them, “This happened, this attack happened.”

Senate passage comes after 21 House Republicans voted against the measure in June, some of them objecting to the language in the bill that referred to a “mob of insurrectionists.” Trump, along with many Republicans who continue to hold mob-cult loyalty to him, has downplayed the rioting, and tried to rebrand it as a peaceful protest, even as law enforcement who responded that day have detailed the violence and made clear the emotional and physical toll it has taken on them. Four officers gave emotional testimony in Congress about their mental and physical injuries.

No Senate Republicans objected. The top Republican on the Senate Rules panel, Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, said the medals recognize’ “the selflessness, the dedication, the willingness to stand in the way of danger.” Blunt said he hopes they will send “a clear message” of appreciation to the two departments.

At least nine people who were there died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber and three other Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that immediately followed, and a third officer, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and died after engaging with the protesters. A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.

This week, the Metropolitan Police announced that two more of their officers who had responded to the insurrection had died by suicide. Officer Kyle DeFreytag was found dead on July 10, and Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead in his home Thursday.

“We are grieving as a department,” the police said in a statement.

While it is unclear what exactly led to their deaths, lawmakers praised them for their service on Jan. 6. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said ahead of the bill’s passage that her heart goes out to the families of the officers who took their own lives.

“I hope each and every one of us will take time today to thank these courageous men and women who are working so hard to keep us safe, many of whom still bear the physical injuries and the emotional trauma of that dark day in our nation’s history,” Collins said.

“We are grieving as a department,” the police said in a statement.

While it is unclear what exactly led to their deaths, lawmakers praised them for their service on January 6th. 

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said ahead of the bill’s passage that her heart goes out to the families of the officers who took their own lives.

“I hope each and every one of us will take time today to thank these courageous men and women who are working so hard to keep us safe, many of whom still bear the physical injuries and the emotional trauma of that dark day in our nation’s history,” Collins said.

Klobuchar said she doesn’t know the reasons for the two officers’ deaths in July, but said that “at some point it’s not a coincidence.”

The suicides are “just one more sad and tragic story of people who were there protecting us who clearly suffered from that day,” she said. “It affected people.”
Klobuchar said she doesn’t know the reasons for the two officers’ deaths in July, but said that “at some point it’s not a coincidence.”

The suicides are “just one more sad and tragic story of people who were there protecting us who clearly suffered from that day,” she said. “It affected people.”

Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Republicans in January 6th denial are not living in reality!

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The Congressional House voted to create an independent commission on the deadly Jan. 6, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, sending the legislation to an uncertain future in the Senate as Republican leaders work to stop a bipartisan investigation that is opposed by #FormerGuy Donald Trump.

Associated Press report by Mary Clare Jalonick.

Jacob Chansley, the self-described QAnon Shaman who posed for photos on the Senate dais while sporting face paint and a furry hat with horns, also lacks the enthusiasm he once showed for the riot. A month later, he wrote an apology from jail, asking for understanding as he was coming to grips with his actions.

Congressman Tim Ryan says Republicans who are denying the January 6, 2021 insurrection are not living in reality.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/congress-gop-congressman-says-party-doesnt-live-reality-flna8c11496548

Democrats say an independent investigation is crucial to reckoning what happened that day, when a violent mob of Trump’s supporters smashed into the Capitol to try and overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. Modeled after the investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the legislation would establish an independent, 10-member commission that would make recommendations by the end of the year for securing the Capitol and preventing another insurrection.

The bill passed the House on Wednesday 252-175, with 35 Republicans voting with Democrats in support of the commission, defying Trump and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. Trump issued a statement urging Republicans to vote against it, calling the legislation a “Democrat trap.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is trying to prevent defections among his own ranks, echoing McCarthy’s opposition in a Senate floor speech Wednesday morning. Both men claimed the bill was partisan, even though membership of the proposed commission would be evenly split between the parties.

Unfortunately, the January insurrection has become an increasingly fraught topic for (GQP!) Republicans, with a growing number in the party downplaying the severity of the worst attack on the Capitol in more than 200 years. While most Republicans voted against forming the commission, only a few spoke on the floor against it. And the handful of Republicans who backed the commission spoke forcefully.

“This is about facts — it’s not partisan politics,” said New York Rep. John Katko, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee who negotiated the legislation with Democrats. He said “the American people and the Capitol Police deserve answers, and action as soon as possible to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.”

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said that Jan. 6 “is going to haunt this institution for a long, long time” and that a commission is necessary to find the truth about what happened. He recalled that he “heard the shouts, saw the flash-bangs, smelled the gas on that sorry day.”

How can Republicans ignore this January 6 2021, image? JMO

Democrats grew angry as some Republicans suggested the commission was only intended to smear Trump. Several shared their own memories of the insurrection, when rioters brutally beat police, broke in through windows and doors and sent lawmakers running. Four of the rioters died, including a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber. A Capitol Police officer collapsed and died after engaging with the protesters, and two officers took their own lives in the days after.

“We have people scaling the Capitol, hitting the Capitol Police with lead pipes across the head, and we can’t get bipartisanship? What else has to happen in this country?” shouted Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, on the floor just before the vote. He said the GOP opposition is “a slap in the face to every rank and file cop in the United States.”

The vote was yet another test of Republican loyalty to Trump, whose grip on the party remains strong despite his election defeat. House Republicans booted Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from their leadership last week for her criticism of Trump’s false claims, installing a Trump loyalist in her place. Cheney, in turn, suggested to ABC News that a commission could subpoena McCarthy because he spoke to Trump during the insurrection.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called McCarthy’s opposition to the commission “cowardice.” 

Speaker Pelosi released a February letter from the GOP leader in which he asked for an even split of Democrats and Republican commissioners, equal subpoena power and no predetermined findings or conclusions. The bipartisan legislation accommodates all three of those requests, she said.

“Leader McCarthy won’t take yes for an answer,” she said.

In the Senate, McConnell’s announcement dimmed the prospects for passage, as Democrats would need at least ten Republicans to vote with them. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed to force a vote on the bill, charging that Republicans are “caving” to Trump.

Schumer said that Republicans are trying to “sabotage the commission” and are “drunk” off Trump’s baseless claim that the election was stolen from him. That false assertion, repeated by the mob as the rioters broke into the Capitol, has been rebuked by numerous courts, bipartisan election officials across the country and Trump’s own attorney general.

Like in the House, some Senate Republicans have suggested they will support the legislation.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said Tuesday that given the violent attack, “we should understand what mistakes were made and how we could prevent them from happening again.” Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy said he doesn’t agree with McConnell that the bill is slanted toward Democrats and “I’m inclined to support it.”

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, said that she supports the idea of a commission but that the House bill would need adjustments.

Others have pushed their colleagues to oppose the commission. Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, the top Republican on the Senate Rules Committee, is working on a report with his Democratic colleagues that will include recommendations for security upgrades. He said an independent investigation would take too long and “frankly, I don’t think there are that many gaps to be filled in on what happened on Jan. 6, as it relates to building security.”

South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, cited concern in the caucus that the investigation could be “weaponized politically” in the 2022 election cycle.

“I want our midterm message to be about the kinds of issues that the American people are dealing with,” Thune said. “It’s jobs and wages and the economy, national security, safe streets, strong borders and those types of issues, and not relitigating the 2020 election.”

Separately Wednesday, aides to Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., circulated a letter they said was from a group of around 40 to 50 anonymous U.S. Capitol Police officers who had been speaking with the congressman.

“It is inconceivable that some of the Members we protect would downplay the events of January 6th,” the letter reads. “It is a privileged assumption for Members to have the point of view that ‘it wasn’t that bad.’ That privilege exists because the brave men and women of the USCP protected you, the Members.”

The letter was quickly repudiated by Capitol Police leaders, who said the agency doesn’t take any position on legislative matters.

Raskin said in an interview Wednesday evening that the officers approached his office with the letter, and that they and their families have been traumatized about what happened on the 6th. Raskin said “they can’t believe there is dissension in the Congress” about the simple facts of the insurrection.