GOP congressman who said rioters like ‘tourists’ shown barricading door in newly released photos
Rep. Andrew Clyde made headlines last week when he claimed the Jan. 6 Capitol takeover was just another day of "normal tourist visits."
The GOP representative who downplayed the Capitol riots was seen on camera barricading a door on the deadly day.
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Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) made headlines last week when he claimed the Jan. 6 Capitol takeover was just another “normal day of tourist visits” to the Capitol.
But a D.C. photographer, Tom Williams of Roll Call, has released an image of the House Republican assisting his colleagues in barricading a congressional office, per Mediaite.
“Let’s be honest with the American people,” Clyde said during a congressional oversight hearing last week. “It was not an insurrection. And we cannot call it that and be truthful.”
He added: “You know, if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from Jan. 6, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.”
Despite the lawmaker’s claims, video footage of rioters fighting, bleeding, and vandalizing the Capitol have been released to the public. Five people lost their lives and hundreds of others were injured.
After his comments and the release of the picture, a formal censure resolution was circulated among House members on Tuesday, per Scott MacFarlane, who posted the resolution on his Twitter page.
The resolution referenced Clyde calling insurrectionists “tourists” and said that he should be formally censured for “dangerously mischaracterizing the events of the day,” and that his comments “disrespects the sacrifices made by law officers on that day, and creates danger by embolding and legitimizing future actors who would attack the United States Capitol in a similar manner.”
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) was the subject of a similar censure resolution for his comments that “peaceful patriots” were being harrassed around the country by the Dept. of Justice, who are investigating the Capitol riots.
As reported by theGrio, the ladies of The View recently went head to head over Clyde’s comments.
Meghan McCain is known for sparking controversy on the daytime series but last week, Sunny Hostin was able to check her cohost’s rhetoric head-on. After McCain suggested America move on from discussing the deadly Capitol siege that took place in January, Hostin said the insurrection is something we should never forget.
“The party of law and order, [Republicans] should be ashamed of themselves for what they did yesterday, what they continue to do, and that is an important story that we should never, ever, ever stop talking about or forget,” said Hostin.
The conversation took off when fellow host Whoopi Goldberg introduced a clip of Clyde stating that the footage of the takeover looked like a simple and “normal tourist visit.”
Whoopi said: “What was he smoking?” and directed the conversation to McCain, who appeared uninterested in the topic.
“Well, this happened four months ago, and we’ve been talking about it for four months, and I’ve made my perspective on it crystal clear. I think it’s horrific, I don’t believe the ‘Big Lie,’” said McCain.
McCain argued that the topic was outdated and a strategy to cover up problems in President Joe Biden’s administration.
“There’s a crisis at the border, the Middle East is on fire, inflation rates are sky high, unemployment is crazy, people can’t get gas in their cars… I think we should be focusing on that vs. re-litigating something that happened four months ago,” said McCain.
The show began to trend because Twitter users could not believe what they just heard.
“MAGA Meg: We need to move on from the insurrection. Sunny: Never!,” tweeted a user.
“Is she kidding @TheView@MeghanMcCain?! Republicans were still talking about Hillary Clinton’s emails 4 YEARS after she’d left the state department,” added another.
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