USA TODAY
Corrections and clarifications: The Associated Press, citing unidentified sources, reported in January that Officer Brian Sicknick may have been hit in the head by a fire extinguisher. But no official cause of death has been released, and U.S. Capitol Police have said only that he died “due to injuries sustained while on-duty.”
WASHINGTON – Leaders in Congress paid tribute to fallen U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who lay in honor Wednesday at the Capitol Rotunda before his interment at Arlington National Cemetery.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., praised the 42-year-old officer as a hero for his efforts Jan. 6 to stop a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol trying to stop the congressional counting of Electoral College votes for then-President-elect Joe Biden.
The managers describe how Trump whipped up his followers into a “frenzy”, less than two hours before the attack, as he called on them to “fight like hell” over his falsehood of a “stolen election”:
The framers of the Constitution feared a President who would corrupt his office by sparing ‘no efforts or means whatever to get himself re-elected’. If provoking an insurrectionary riot against a joint session of Congress after losing an election is not an impeachable offense, it is hard to imagine what would be.
The managers set out Trump’s falsehoods and disinformation about a “rigged” election from early summer, when he said that he might not recognize the outcome, to January 6. The case is supported by hours of footage from Parler, Twitter, and other social media platforms.
US President Donald Trump speaks before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on January 20, 2021. – President Trump travels to his Mar-a-Lago golf club residence in Palm Beach, Florida, and will not attend the inauguration for President-elect Joe Biden. (Photo by ALEX EDELMAN / AFP)
Donald Trump was “singularly responsible” for the deadly US Capitol riot last month and acquitting the former president could damage American democracy, lawmakers leading the impeachment case said Tuesday, a week before his Senate trial begins.
Trump became the first US president in history to be impeached twice when the House of Representatives charged him last month with inciting the mayhem inflicted by his followers when they invaded Congress on January 6.
Fallen Capitol Police officer will lie in honor at US Capitol
Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, will lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday. The 42-year-old officer died after he was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher during the hours-long fight for control of the Capitol after it was violently breached by an angry mob that aimed to stop the counting of Electoral College votes for then-President-elect Joe Biden. The tradition of using the Capitol Rotunda to pay tribute to distinguished Americans began in 1852, but historically that honor has been given to military officers and elected officials who have lain in state. More recently, Congress has allowed pre-eminent citizens to lie in honor. A ceremonial arrival will take place Tuesday, and several private viewings will commence before a congressional tribute and departure ceremony is held. Sicknick will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Pete Buttigieg, former Presidential candidate and South Bend, Ind., Mayor, becomes the 19th Transportation Secretary.
The Senate confirmed today, by a vote of 86-13, Pete Buttigieg as the 19th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“I’m honored and humbled by today’s vote in the Senate and ready to get to work @USDOT,” Buttigieg, 39, tweeted on Feb. 2.
Buttigieg’s nomination cleared the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation by a 21-3 vote on Jan. 21, just over a month after being selected by then President-elect Joe Biden. Buttigieg tweeted the same day that he looked forward to working with the Committee as “we get to work on infrastructure and building our economy back better.” He is the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ Cabinet Secretary.