Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) has called out Republicans who are now downplaying the riot at the U.S. Capitol earlier this year, recalling the fear his GOP colleagues felt as a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the building.
“It’s true some GOP members of Congress who are treating Capitol Police like shit were the most scared on the floor,” Gallego tweeted Thursday, appearing to reference the 21 House Republicans who this week voted against honoring police who responded to the violence with a Congressional Gold Medal.
Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) “took apart a hand sanitizer station to make into a club,” Gallego recalled. Hice has since claimed that Trump supporters were the real victims of the riot.
GOP Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs from Arizona “were the first to leave the floor,” Gallego wrote. Gosar has since referred to the insurrections as “peaceful patriots.”
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), meanwhile, was “screaming like a banshee” as the mob raided Congress, according to Gallego. Clyde was also caught on camera desperately trying to barricade a door to the House gallery.
But Clyde has since compared the rioters to tourists and refused the handshake of one of the officers who was badly beaten in the attack.