Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) grew emotional at the first hearing for the Jan. 6 select committee.
The story: The House Select Committee that was created to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol held its first public hearing on Tuesday. The hearing involved testimonies from four police officers who spoke about their experiences during the riot.
The officers gave their accounts of how the events unfolded and some rebuked Republican lawmakers who they have said downplayed the violence that took place that day.
Kinzinger’s remarks: The Illinois Republican, who was appointed to the committee by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), choked up during his opening remarks. He said the hearing was more emotional than he expected it to be.
“I never expected today to be quite as emotional for me as it has been,” Kinzinger said as his voice started breaking. “I’ve talked to a number of you and gotten to know you. I think it’s important to tell you right now, though: You guys may, like, individually, feel a little broken. … But you guys won. You guys held.”
“Democracies are not defined by our bad days. We’re defined by how we come back from bad days, how we take accountability for that. For all the overheated rhetoric surrounding this committee, our mission is very simple: It’s to find the truth, and it’s to ensure accountability,” he added.
He later tweeted part of the testimony from officer Harry Dunn who asked for a moment of silence for fellow officer Brian Sicknick. Sicknick died a day after the riot after suffering two strokes and is believed to have died of natural causes.
Kinzinger described the Capitol officers who faced the rioters as “heroes” in his tweet.
Schiff’s remarks: The California lawmakers appeared to tear up later in the hearing.
“I’d like to think, as Amanda Gorman so eloquently said, that we’re not broken — we’re just unfinished. Because if we’re no longer committed to a peaceful transfer of power after our elections if our side doesn’t win, then God help us,” Schiff said. “We deem elections illegitimate merely because they don’t go our way rather than trying to do better the next time, then God help us.”
“And if we’re so driven by bigotry and hate that we attack our fellow citizens as traitors if they were born in another country or they don’t look like us,” Schiff continued. “Then God help us. But I have faith because of folks like you.”
“I didn’t expect this would be emotional either,” Schiff added. “It must be an Adam thing today.”
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