Patrick Leahy: “I couldn't help but think today that the distinguished Presiding Officer and I both had the opportunity to be…”

“I couldn't help but think today that the distinguished Presiding Officer and I both had the opportunity to be prosecutors. And I thought today about prosecutors--I listened to what former President Donald Trump said. I listened to him with horror and disbelief, especially when I saw it on television, and he was obviously reading his words off a teleprompter and knew exactly what he was saying. He basically said that if he was reelected, he would be inclined to give Presidential pardons to the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol a year ago, January 6--the people who came in here as insurrectionists; the people who came in here doing enormous damage and injuries; the people who caused many to die; the people who set up a gallows outside the Capitol with a noose on it with Vice President Pence's name on it, saying that if he is not willing to ignore the law and suddenly give the Presidency to Donald Trump, a man who had lost by millions of votes, this is what he deserved, the gallows. It is the sort of thing that if you saw it in a B-rated horror movie, you would say this is so unbelievable, but here it is real. You had people committing terrible crimes--destruction of property, injuries to people, trying to kill and eventually did kill police officers.…”