A former DC Metropolitan Police officer had harsh words for the Republican Party after only one GOP representative attended an event at the Capitol to mark the second anniversary of the deadly January 6 riot.
Democrats met on the steps of the Capitol to mark the tragic event. The families of police officers killed and injured in the event were also on hand, as was only a single Republican lawmaker.
Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania was reportedly the only Republican who attended the Capitol riot remembrance gathering on Friday.
“Over the past two years, I have tried to walk a fine line when it comes to condemning Republicans. No one likes to be painted with a broad brush. Law enforcement certainly doesn’t like that,” former DC Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone told CNN.
”That being said, it’s very difficult to defend the Republican Party when only one of their members takes the time to show up and show support for law enforcement that was there defending them that day. It’s disgraceful. It’s an embarrassment for their party, and it’s disgraceful behavior.”
Will Steakin, an ABC News correspondent, spoke with Mr Fitzpatrick about the riot.
"There’s a lot of terrible emotions," he said. "A terrible day that we can never let happen again."
Mr Fitzpatrick told Mr Steakin that he also lost his brother and predecessor, Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, two years ago to the day.
“I lost my brother on this day, the year before," he told the reporter. "Had the insurrection happen on the one year anniversary. So a lot of emotions.”
According to the Associated Press, this year’s memorial was largely focused on the law enforcement officers who protected the Capitol and the lawmakers the day of the attack and on the families of police officers who died in the wake of the riot.
Two police officers died by suicide in the days following the attack. A third, Brian Sicknick, collapsed and died after engaging with protesters the day of the attack, though a medical exam ruled he died of natural causes. Several months after the riot, two more DC Metropolitan Police officers who fought against the insurrection died by suicide.
House Reps Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi both spoke during the ceremony.
Mr Jeffries said 140 police officers were injured the day of the riot, and that “many more will forever be scarred by the bloodthirsty violence of the insurrectionist mob. We stand here today with our democracy intact because of those officers.”
At the same time that Democrats were marking the anniversary of an insurrection, Republicans were busy trying to figure out who would lead them in the House. It has been four days since Republicans began casting votes to select the next Speaker of the House, and since then no candidate — including nominees like Congressman Jim Jordan and former President Donald Trump — has managed to secure the needed votes to ascend to the Speaker’s seat.
Congressman Kevin McCarthy is the first speaker to lose his party’s vote in 100 years.
Elsewhere in Washington DC, about twenty MAGA protesters demonstrated outside the US Supreme Court to mark the second anniversary of the Capitol riot.
That protest was apparently quickly derailed by a pair of counter-protesters with Antifa signs and a megaphone, according to The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer.
