Sheldon Whitehouse: “many of us who were here on January 6 have pretty indelible memories. I am looking at Senator Murray, who has…”

“many of us who were here on January 6 have pretty indelible memories. I am looking at Senator Murray, who has particularly harrowing memories. One of mine is, I was one of the last people out of the Senate, and by the time we got to the room where we were sequestered for our own protection from the mob, colleagues were irate, and they had been frightened. There is footage of Republican Senators running through the halls to get away from the mob. I remember one of our colleagues shouting out that we should get back over here to vote even if it meant protesters would have to be shot--again, a Republican. There were 600 of the rioters here who committed violence on police officers, and nearly 200 of them used weapons. They were convicted of this after all proper, fair procedures in an American court of law. Then the notion of pardons started to come up, and we were basically shushed by our Republican colleagues. Oh, that will never happen. The Vice President said: If you committed violence on January 6, you shouldn't be pardoned. In fact, he said ``obviously''--``obviously you shouldn't be pardoned.'' Another colleague in the Judiciary Committee chastised Democrats for asking the Attorney General nominee what she would do with respect to the violent January 6 protesters. Would she recommend that the President pardon them? And we were chastised for the absurdity of that question.…”