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Floor Speech

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Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Himes for having this Special Order, and I thank him for his passion.

Mr. Speaker, I represent many of those people who protect us on Capitol Hill, members of the Capitol Police, the Metropolitan/ Washington D.C. Police force, the Arlington County Police, police who live in my northern Virginia district.

January 6 was not some distant abstract event for my constituents. Democracy was on the line that day, but so were their lives, their bodies, their physical safety, and well-being.

As events spiraled out of control on January 6, calls for help went out on police radios, and they were answered by men and women in uniform throughout the Metropolitan, Washington, Virginia, Maryland area, some of whom were off duty. Many were off duty. They chose to get dressed, jump in their cars, and race in to help us, to protect our Capitol, to protect all who work here.

Hundreds of those officers still bear the wounds seen and unseen that will never heal. The January 6 pardons and commutations were some of the worst things that Donald Trump has ever done. With these pardons, Trump embraced lawlessness and violence.

Trump pardoned the people who beat and tased my constituent, Officer Michael Fanone, who was tased repeatedly in the neck. He described it as being like torture, and it led him to have a heart attack at that very time.

Trump pardoned the people who gave a brain injury to my constituent, Officer Jeffrey Smith, days before he died by suicide. Congressman Himes mentioned how he was beat in the head with a pole. His wife, Erin Smith, said those injuries changed him in his final days. He was a different person.

Officer Smith's death was later ruled as a line-of-duty death because it resulted from injuries suffered here on our behalf.

Trump pardoned the people who attacked my constituent, Officer Brian Sicknick. They sprayed him with pepper spray hours before his death from two strokes.

The medical examiner said his death was from natural causes, but what happened to Brian before his death during the attack on the Capitol clearly led to his death.

Trump pardoned the people who chanted Nazi slogans, who yelled racial slurs at our Black police officers, and those who called for the assassination of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Trump's own Vice President, Mike Pence.

Mr. Speaker, Trump pardoned a man who was charged with throwing an explosive device at the police in the Capitol. This was a man who had previously been convicted of domestic violence, battery by strangulation.

Trump pardoned a man who stomped on an officer's head, who beat other officers with a flagpole, a crutch, pieces of furniture, and sprayed officers with pepper spray. Trump pardoned a man who ripped off the gas mask of a police officer, beat him in the face with it, and crushed him in a door.

Trump pardoned hundreds of people who pled guilty to assaulting law enforcement, many of them with deadly weapons. He pardoned or commuted the sentences of over a dozen violent criminals convicted of seditious conspiracy. By pardoning those who carry out these heinous crimes, Trump has made our country less safe. He betrayed law enforcement heroes who protected the Capitol at great personal cost.

These pardons send a message that violent crime, even against law enforcement, will be sanctioned by Trump's government if it is carried out in his name.

I urge my colleagues to remember the families of the five police officers who died as a result of January 6: Officer Brian Sicknick, Jeffrey Smith, Howie Liebengood, Gunther Hashida, and Kyle DeFreytag.

I urge everyone to remember the officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, who put themselves at risk to protect us, and will carry the scars of the seen and unseen as long as they will live.

These scars were inflicted by people who will face no further legal consequences for those acts thanks to President Donald Trump. This injustice is a gross betrayal of their service and sacrifice but does not diminish their patriotism.

After January 6, many of my colleagues posted messages of support for law enforcement and the Capitol Police. It was on their doors. It was on their walls and in the halls of Longworth and Rayburn and Cannon. It was even on social media.

Members like Speaker Johnson called for the prosecution of those criminals who committed those acts of violence against the police who guard the Capitol. Let me quote Speaker Johnson: To the fullest extent of the law.

Republicans went on to hold votes on symbolic, nonbinding resolutions expressing support for police. They told us to back the blue. Back the blue. Their silence, or worse, their defense of Trump's pardons are unforgivable. They can never again claim to back the blue with any credibility.

Finally, a warning: With these pardons, Trump put violent, dangerous people back into our communities. Many of them did terrible things on other days besides January 6, 2021. All of them had just been emboldened by receiving get-out-of-jail-free cards from this President. Who knows what other criminal acts they will perpetrate next. Unfortunately, we are all about to find out.

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