Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards gave a fiery testimony during Thursday’s January 6 hearing of an elected committee investigating the Capitol riot in 2021, describing the violence perpetrated by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“There were officers on the ground, they were bleeding, vomiting,” Edwards said. “I saw friends with blood on their faces. I was slipping in people’s blood. “
Edwards told the commission she was unconscious during the riot, but continued to try to hold the line against the rebels when she was given tear gas.
“It was a massacre. It was chaos, “she continued. “I never thought in my wildest dreams that as a police officer I would find myself in the middle of a battle.
Edwards said that during the uprising that Trump supporters began trying to block Election College certification, confirming Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, she saw Brian Sicknick, a Capitol police officer who received two stroke and died of natural causes the day after he faced the rebels, looking “ghostly pale”.
Capitol Officer Caroline Edwards. (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
In the immediate aftermath of the deadly uprising that killed five people shortly afterwards and left 138 police officers injured, many Republicans condemned the violence and seemed to distance themselves from Trump’s ongoing efforts to run in the election.
“All I can say is count me,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. “Enough is enough.”
“The headquarters of our first branch of our federal government was stormed by criminals who brutalized police officers and used force to try to stop Congress from doing its job,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a statement. after the uprising.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called the riots a “violent terrorist attack on the Capitol.”
Over time, however, the convictions have largely faded, and many in the party seem to downplay the seriousness of the incident or what inspired it to happen.
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“We’re not ashamed of anything,” Florida spokesman Matt Goetz said in a podcast interview with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, marking the anniversary of the uprising. “We are proud of the work we did on January 6 to make legitimate arguments for the integrity of the election.”
Florida MP Marjorie Taylor Green, who also appeared on the podcast, has targeted Democrats and the FBI for trying to blame and punish those who violated the Capitol and force lawmakers who challenged election results to resign. .
“They are good at changing the regime and how do you do it? You put it in perfect execution and they did it. They want to disqualify us … they want to use the commission from January 6, “Green said.
Video screen shows rebels breaking the barrier by knocking down Capitol police officer Caroline Edwards on January 6, 2021 (Tom LoBianco / Yahoo News)
On Wednesday, Washington Commanders football coach Jack Del Rio told reporters: “I see the images on television. People’s livelihoods are being destroyed, businesses are being burned down – no problem. And then we have access to the Capitol, nothing burned down … and we’re going to make this a big deal.
However, Edwards said the country’s hyper-party movement surprised her and other Capitol officers.
“I was called a lot of things on January 6, 2021 and the days after. “They called me Nancy Pelosi’s dog, they called me incompetent, they called me a hero and a villain,” she told the committee. “They called me a traitor to my country, my oath and my constitution. In fact, I was not one of those things. I was an American, face to face with other Americans, wondering how many, many, many times, how did we get here? “
-Dylan Stableford contributed to the report
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