Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), in an impassioned speech on the House floor Wednesday, attacked Republicans for their “shocking nihilism about what’s true and what’s false” as he ripped revisionist mischaracterizations of the Capitol riot.
Raskin, who served on the Jan. 6 committee, called out the “nonsense” claim that Trump won the 2020 election, and noted the ex-president’s dozens of failed courtroom challenges.
“Their big lie has to stretch all the way over Jan. 6,” he said. “We have to disbelieve the evidence of our own eyes, of our own ears.”
Raskin’s comments come as House Republicans prepare to investigate the House Jan. 6 committee, which produced voluminous evidence that former President Donald Trump provoked the insurrection with his 2020 election lies. The GOP-led probe reportedly will be directed by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who led a Capitol tour the day before the riot.
Raskin recounted the Jan. 6 siege by Trump supporters and scoffed at the characterizations of the attack by extremist Republicans as a tourist visit.
“They’re back on the news with big lies saying, ‘No, no, no, it was a tourist visit,’ like these real tourists up here, who have to come and watch representatives in the United States Congress say there’s no difference between truth and lies,” Raskin said.
“Real tourists who are not beating the daylights out of our police officers.”
Earlier this week, Fox News host Tucker Carlson presented cherry-picked clips of Capitol security footage whitewashing the violence. The White House, Democrats and some Republicans have condemned the prime time personality.
Watch Raskin’s speech below: