Honor officer Brian Sicknick, who was murdered in the invasion of the capitol. He died at 9 30 p. M. The night after the capitol was invaded. And at 9 30 p. M. Tonight his remains were returned to the capitol. The honoring of officer Brian Sicknick tonight has been reserved for members of the Capitol Police. Tomorrow morning members of congress will have an opportunity to honor Officer Sicknick. Brian sicknick is the third Capitol Police officer to be given this honor of Lying In Honor in the Capitol Rotunda after being killed in the line of duty. In 1998 two Capitol Police officers were shot and killed by a lone gunman who rushed through the Metal Detector at the capitol, shot officer Jacob Chestnut in the head, officer john gibson was in a free Fire Exchange with the shooter. Officer gibson was killed and both of their caskets appeared in the Capitol Rotunda, where they were given this honor of Lying In Honor. And thats the scene in 1998 when officer gibson and officer chestnut were Lying In Honor. Officer chestnut actually became the first black man in history whose casket was given a place of honor in the Capitol Rotunda. In the hour before Brian Sicknicks remains arrived at the capitol tonight, the house representatives passed a new rule to protect the Capitol Police from, in this case, republican members of the house who have actually attempted to bring guns into the House Chamber after the invasion of the capitol. House members who do not comply with Metal Detectors now in the house will be fined 5,000 for a first offense and 10,000 for the second offense. Those fines will be deducted from their paychecks. And passing that new rule tonight, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said we all have a solemn responsibility to honor the service and sacrifice of the Capitol Police for the valor that they showed that harrowing day, yet just days after the assault, many House Republicans began Disrespecting Our Heros by refusing to adhere to basic precautions keeping members off of our Congressional Community safe, including by dodging Metal Detectors, physically pushing past police, and even attempting to bring firearms into the chamber. It is sad we have been forced to move forward with a rule change imposing fines on those who refuse to abide by those protections, but the peoples house must and will be safe so that we can honor our responsibility to do the peoples work. We expect President Biden to be visiting the rotunda to pay his respects to officer Brian Sicknick, president ial motorcade has made its way to the capitol. President biden did not put this on his public schedule or announce beforehand that he was going to make this trip. But we did see the president ial motorcade arriving at the capitol. Expect to see President Biden at some time probably within this hour. As we watch this solemn moment from the capitol, the likes of which has only happened once before, as i said in 1998 when two officers were killed in the line of duty, were joined our viewing of this by professional eddie glaude. He is the chairman of African American studies at Princeton University. He is an msnbc contributor. Also with us jonathan alter, columnist from the daily beast, author and most recently the author of his very best, jimmy carter, a life. Jonathan alter, you have been covering events in washington all of your life. This is the kind of event we never expect to be covering. Thats right. This was an assault on our democracy. Officer sicknick died in action a hero, defending his country, our democracy, our seat of government, our freedom, our values. They were all on the line on january 6th. So i hope that this is just the beginning of the commemoration of this man who made the ultimate sacrifice. And we need to create what historians call a usable past. We need to sanctify his sacrifice so that future generations understand the stakes and what he died for. Professor glaude, i have to say, before 1998 when officer Jacob Chestnut and officer john gibson were shot and killed in the line of duty right there in the capitol, we who used to work in the capitol thought of the Capitol Police work as relatively easy as police work goes. More like a Campus Police that you would have at princeton, for example. We discovered the hard way in 1998 how dangerous it could be with a lone gunman rushing through the Metal Detector. On january 6th, we discovered how dangerous it could be if a thousand people or more, a few thousand people were sent up to the capitol by the president of the United States to take it over. Yeah, i mean, its actually stunning on a certain level. We know that the United States hasnt been, shall we say, lawrence, that it hasnt had this kind of Political Violence before, that thats part of our history. But for a period it seems that the peoples house, its always been sacred. We need to understand that Officer Sicknick has died, hes a casualty in the battle for the soul of america. Hes the latest casualty in the battle for the soul of america. And we need to understand that and we need to understand those who participated in setting the context and we need to commemorate his life and his sacrifice in light of the battle that is currently being waged for the soul of america. It is an historic and unprecedented day and we need to approach it with the solemnity that it requires. Officer sicknicks family issued a statement on january 11th, four days after he died. They said there really arent enough kind words in any language to describe how sweet brian was. He was a truly lovely humble soul. We are missing him terribly. He was sweet natured through and through. Everyone who met him adored him. He also loved his dachshunds dearly, spoiling them, ensuring they got the best care possible. He loved his job with the Capitol Police and was very passionate about it. He also had an incredible work ethic. He was very serious about showing up to work on time and refused to call out sick unless absolutely necessary. Our loss of brian will leave a large hole in our hearts. And tonight Brian Sicknicks family is in the Capitol Rotunda, where they never expected to be, to be honoring the work of Brian Sicknick as his remains lie in honor in the capitol after being killed in the line of duty. Jonathan alter, this is a solemn night. I find myself pushing away political commentary about what were seeing, but responsibility for what were seeing will be on trial next week in the United States senate, in the Impeachment Trial of the president of the United States, but tonight Brian Sicknicks family and the Capitol Police have assembled to honor this life, this life that ended at age 42, for no reason that makes sense to any of us. Well, i think the only comparisons that come to mind are from the period of the 1860s when our country was ran by civil war. This is what the moment that joe biden in his fine inaugural address called for, a moment of unity. This is the union. These Capitol Police officers and the others in attendance, they dont care about party, they dont care about petty politics, they are here to defend the seat of government and protect the only real tangible monument to our democracy. This is a temple of democracy they were defending. And so this goes to the core of who we are as a nation and in that sense i think it is a moment of unity. The people who dont understand the importance of this, who dont understand Officer Sicknicks sacrifice, really should be on the margins of our society. And its only because we had a particular president of the United States that this kind of idea of insurrection and assaulting democracy game to be encouraged from the highest level. Normally, lawrence, this is who we are. We come together this way to honor those who have fallen in battle defending our freedom. Whats abnormal about this is that it was the battle was inflicted from our midst. And thats why, as you say, this will be remembered for generations. This will not disappear into the ether of american history. There are some folks who want to move on and want this to end. Yes, we will move on and deal with legislation and argue and debate as we always have, but this episode in january is a major pearl harbor style moment in our history and this scene tonight is the beginning of us pulling together to process it in a way that does justice to our values. The flag you see positioned beside the remains of officer Brian Sicknick was flown over the capitol by Speaker Nancy Pelosi on january 7th, 2021, the day after the invasion of the capitol. That flag was flown over the capitol that day honoring the life and service of officer Brian Sicknick. And there is President Biden and first lady jill biden. President biden, who himself served decades in those halls as a United States senator, he knew the names and the first names of probably all of the Capitol Police officers on the senate side of the campus, at the senatorsonly entrances. There are entrances to some parts of the Senate Office buildings that are just for senators and senate staff, the same Capitol Police officers tend to be stationed at those entrances every day with regular shifts. You get to know them by name, they get to know you. It is in that sense a very personal police force. It feels like your police force, your protectors. Thats the feeling that everyone who works in those buildings has for the Capitol Police. There are no other elected officials likely to appear tonight because tonights ceremony and gathering is primarily for the family of officer Ryan Sicknick and his colleagues, teammates, on the Capitol Police. Tomorrow morning there will be an opportunity for members of congress to pay their respects to Officer Sicknick. Professor glaude, i know on the day the invasion was taking a l comment on television that confused in my mind the role of the Capitol Police in washington, d. C. They really have authority only around the Capitol Campus and the capitol complex. They are not a big city Crime Fighting police department. They are a protective service for a campus really. And the analogy to Campus Police forces at your university and others is much more apt than to big, urban Police Departments that deal with all sorts of criminal conduct. And so they are also the only police force in america whose job takes place mostly indoors and takes place in the most valuable and sacred buildings in our history, where they are trained to not get into confrontation but to actually try to defuse whatever comes their way because everything around them is so precious that if anything gets out of hand and certainly if a gun had to be fired, theres just no telling what it might hit, what it might ricochet off of. So there was a lot of talk on the day of the invasion that what people thought they were seeing was a retreating police force, when in fact retreat in many ways is the only option they have. Their only Crowd Control Device is a gun. They dont have any Crowd Control Device other than a gun. And so the choice is to shoot or not. And one shot was fired but no more, and officer goodman, who was seen retreating in a video, walking away from the protesters, was at first in some circles criticized for that, then we discovered later that it was a brilliant tactic because he was leading the protesters away from the Senate Chamber and thereby living up to his Oath Of Office to protect the people in that building as best he could. And so the complexity of the police work for this relatively small police force that works almost entirely indoors is only now, i think, being fully appreciated. I think on the day of the invasion there was a lot of rushing to judgment about the way they were doing their jobs. Yeah. I mean, we were confronted with images of some officers or one officer taking a selfie, others helping folk walk down the steps, but we didnt get the images of officers being crushed, of officers being attacked with the american flag, of officers being bludgeoned with crutches and bats and the like. So i think youre right. A more complicated picture has emerged since january 6th. But you know, lawrence, im sitting here thinking about the remains of officer Brian Sicknick, and im trying to come to terms with what it means for the body in the grave, what it means for those remains. Death is death is always a Grand Corrector of our outsized understands of life. Death occasions the moment where we says the choices weve made up to that moment. And it seems to me we have to ask ourselves the question, what will the death of Officer Sicknick mean for us . We understand him to be a casualty in the battle of the soul of america, but how will that death, how will that body speak to us in life . Will we address the partisanship, will we address the choices made by politicians who are selfserving . Will we address this conflict thats at the heart of the country . What will the body say to us . You know, what will that body in the coffin as we would say in the africanamerican tradition, how will it speak back . What will his remains in the capitol say to the nation, right . Because we know that up until this moment we have been some among us have been trying to run past this and know now we have to confront the dead right now. What will that body say to us . What will his remains say to us now about who we aspire to be . Right. Thats what im thinking about right now. Officer Brian Sicknicks family issued one Public Statement about four days after he died on january 11th. I read it in its entirety earlier. One line in that statement was our loss of brian will leave a large hole in our hearts. Im sure that is also true for so many people who worked there in the capitol and knew him, either knew him by recognizing his face or knew him by name as they passed through various security checkpoints. One of the people who does that every day is senator Chris Van Holland of maryland. Senator van hollen is joining our discussion now. Senator, i just want to get your feelings about what oui seen tonight in the capital rotunda. Well, lawrence, first, thank you for describing the mission of the Capitol Police on this solemn occasion. And these are men and women that we see every day protecting the capitol, the centuries for our democracy. And here we see the families coming to the, both Officer Sicknicks family but the Greater Family of the Capitol Police, they will be joined tomorrow, as you indicated, by many of us who will pay respects as he lies in honor. This is a moment for reflection on the great work that the Capitol Police do on a daily basis, and raising the larger questions for our democracy in the days ahead. So i want to just say to Officer Sicknicks family thank you for his service, thank you for the country and for the capitol in giving his life to protect our capitol and our democracy. Senator, i dont want to limit the range of discussion here with anyone, so please feel free to make any point you like. I do not find myself drawn to political commentary in this hour, as i look at that flag and look at the remains there in the rotunda. But i wonder if you could share with the audience a little bit more about what the Capitol Polic