House Democrat proposes to censure 3 GOP lawmakers for downplaying severity of Jan. 6 Capitol riot

WASHINGTON – A House Democrat is circulating a proposal to censure three Republican colleagues who sought to downplay the severity of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., set a Monday deadline for colleagues to join the resolution that aims to censure Reps. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga.; Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.; and Jody Hice, R-Ga.

“These members cannot be allowed to rewrite history at their convenience by disrespecting the sacrifices made by Capitol police officers and downplaying the violent, destructive intent that rioters carried into this sacred building,” Cicilline wrote in a letter explaining the effort. “The January 6th insurrection was an attack on our democracy that we must continue to defend against today.”

Cicilline said the language of the resolution was still being drafted.

A censure, a form of discipline short of expulsion, requires a House majority vote on a resolution disapproving of a lawmaker's conduct. The lawmaker typically stands at the front of the House chamber to receive a verbal rebuke, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. The House has censured 22 representatives and one delegate in history, according to CRS.

The riot interrupted the counting of Electoral College votes that confirmed President Joe Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump. Five people died and 140 police officers were injured as rioters overran police barricades and stormed through the Capitol and vandalized offices.

At an Oversight and Reform Committee hearing Wednesday, several Republicans questioned the severity of the attack that had led to their evacuation from the building.

"Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall, showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes taking videos and pictures," Clyde said. "You know, if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit."

After Clyde's comments, a photographer for the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call shared a picture he had taken of Clyde helping barricade a House door against rioters on Jan. 6.

"The Rep. Clyde news reminded me of this," the photographer, Tom Williams, said in a tweet.

Gosar accused the FBI of using the event as an excuse to investigate law-abiding Americans.

“The FBI is fishing through homes of veterans and citizens with no criminal records and restricting the liberties of individuals that had never been accused of a crime,” Gosar said.

He also asked the former acting attorney general: “Who executed Ashli Babbitt?” She was shot to death by police while climbing through a door just outside the House chamber.

Hice argued that people began attacking the building too soon after Trump’s speech on the Ellipse to have been incited by him. But the House impeached Trump for inciting the insurrection. Other members of the committee questioned Hice’s timeline.

Hice also noted that several of the deaths were from natural causes. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who confronted rioters, died the day after the attack from strokes.

At her weekly news conference Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the comments comparing the insurrection to a regular tourist day were “quite appalling.” Pelosi said it wasn’t “just the normal orderly visit of people to the Capitol” because rioters set up a gallows and chanted that they would hang Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding in the Senate.

“Yet, in a hearing held yesterday, some House Republicans defended those actions, saying the rioters were orderly and acting similar to a normal tourist visit,” Pelosi said. “You have to see it, because it was beyond denial. It fell into the range of sick.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House Dem wants to censure 3 Republicans for downplaying Jan. 6 riot