Republicans were too busy sorting out Kevin McCarthy's speakership bid to join a January 6 commemoration on the riot's 2-year anniversary
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
- Two years after January 6, the House is now on its fourth day of trying to elect a speaker.
- Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries organized a bipartisan commemoration of the Capitol assault.
- But it overlapped with a GOP conference call, and just one Republican appeared to show up.
On Friday morning, lawmakers gathered on the East front steps of the US Capitol to honor the police officers who died or were injured during the Capitol riot two years ago to the day.
Just one Republican appeared to show up to the ceremony: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
"I wanted to be here," Fitzpatrick told Insider after the ceremony, saying he didn't know if he was the only member of his party on the steps. All members-elect were invited.
The 10 am ceremony seemed to overlap with a scheduled 10:15 am conference call for Republicans to discuss the latest round of negotiations in Republican leader Kevin McCarthy's quest to become speaker of the House. However, the ceremony had largely concluded by 10:18am.
Fitzpatrick pointed to the call as the reason other Republicans, including leadership, were not in attendance. "I couldn't even see who was there, but I do know there was a call regarding this whole speakership thing," he told reporters.
Voting has been ongoing since Tuesday, and as of Friday morning, McCarthy had lost 11 consecutive ballots.
—bryan metzger (@metzgov) January 6, 2023
During the ceremony, members of Congress honored the four officers who lost their lives as the result of the riot: Capitol Police Officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Leibengood, and DC Metropolitan Police Officers Gunther Hashida, Kyle DeFreytag, and Jeffrey Smith, ringing a bell each time their names were called. Sicknick suffered violent attacks during the riot, while the four other officers died by suicide in the days and months afterward.
The lawmakers then observed a 140-second member of silence to commemorate 140 other officers who were seriously injured during the riot.
"Many more will forever be scarred by the bloodthirsty violence of the insurrectionist mob," said Jeffries during the ceremony. "We stand here today with our democracy intact because of those officers."
Fitzpatrick also told reporters that the day has a particular resonance for him. On January 6, 2020 — a year before the assault — he lost his brother, former Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, to cancer.
"I lost my brother on this day the year before. The insurrection happened on the one year anniversary," he said. "There's just a lot, a lot of emotions. It's a terrible day that we can never let happen again."