Virginia Republicans aren’t pushing back against former President Donald Trump’s recent assertions that police told rioters to enter the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
During his June 28 rally in Chesapeake, Trump called for the release of the “J6 hostages” who were jailed, and praised a Supreme Court decision last month that makes it harder to charge the rioters with obstruction. He said many who stormed the Capitol were “horribly treated.”
“So many of these people were told to go in,” said Trump, speaking at Historic Greenbrier Farms. “The police (told them) go in, go in.”
Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans of Virginia Beach — who spoke at Trump’s event — repeatedly refused questions from The Virginian-Pilot asking if they agreed with the former president’s remarks.
Several other prominent Republican legislators who were contacted for comment did not respond.
Trump led an unprecedented and unsuccessful effort in 2020 to overturn his election loss to Joe Biden that culminated in his supporters storming the U.S. Capitol as Congress was certifying electoral votes. Rioters forced their way inside — scaling walls, shattering windows and engaging in hand-to-hand combat with police officers.
Roughly 140 officers were assaulted — about 80 from the U.S. Capitol Police and 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department. Officer Brian Sicknick, who was injured, suffered two strokes and died the next day. Four officers died by suicide in the following weeks or months.
Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer, criticized Trump’s assertions about police inviting rioters inside. He said the refusal of some legislators to condemn those remarks were shameful.
“It’s a slap in the face,” Dunn told the Pilot on Thursday. “Officers were assaulted, violently and viscously. If you look at (images of) the west front, the tunnel as it has been called, officers were giving it their everything to keep those people out of the building.”
Six officers were disciplined for violations such as improper remarks related to their service on Jan. 6, according to a 2021 release from the Capitol police. But Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger has hit back on assertions that officers allowed the mob inside.
“This notion that the Capitol Police were somehow allowing these folks into the Capitol, inviting them in, helping them, just simply not true,” he said in a previous interview with CNN.
In the immediate aftermath, many Republicans in Congress condemned the attack. At the state level, the Senate Republican Caucus in 2021 publicly chided then-Sen. Amanda Chase after she expressed support for the rioters. Three Republicans, including then-Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment of Williamsburg, joined Democrats in censuring her.
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Youngkin has long tiptoed around issues involving Trump, but the governor previously acknowledged Biden won the 2020 presidential election and expressed disapproval over the Capitol attack, calling it a “blight” on democracy two years ago. Kiggans previously called Jan. 6 “a dark day” and said those who broke the law should be held accountable.
Alex Keena, assistant professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University, said he suspects even mild statements have now become controversial. Between Trump cinching the Republican presidential nomination and the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, Keena explained it’s increasingly risky for Republicans to voice any disapproval about the attack.
“I think the Supreme Court decision has emboldened a lot of people who were sympathetic to the Jan. 6 cause and to Trump’s efforts to overturn the election,” he said. “It’s very risky (for Republican legislators) to speak out against Jan 6 — I think they wish it would just go away.”
Trump, however, has kept the Capitol attack at the forefront of his presidential campaign this year, launching his first rally in Ohio with a recording of Jan. 6 rioters singing the national anthem from jail. He’s called the rioters “patriots” and pledged to pardon them if he returns to power.
Keena said it has placed Republicans in states with moderate political climates, such as Virginia, in a challenging position. If they speak out, they could provoke Trump or his most loyal followers. But fully embracing the attack could repel other voters.
“I think they decided the best strategy for a lot of Republicans is to just not talk about it,” he said.
Virginia’s House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said he fears that the failure to firmly and consistently condemn the attack is sowing the seeds for more violence.
“I absolutely think we are harming American democracy by normalizing that political violence and claiming that the people who literally stormed the Capitol were some kind of victims,” he said. “I think we are going down a dangerous path.”
Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com
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