WASHINGTON, D.C. — The audience of the House Select Committee was filled with more elected officials than have been seen over the past several hearings. Among those that attended the eighth hearing were some Democrats who left the room during the break to express their fury about what they saw.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) told Raw Story that he wanted to be in the room on Thursday to remember what happened on Jan. 6. He said that he truly hopes that it doesn't happen again, but that starts with prosecutions.
"Not only the people that were outside and that came in but politicians or anyone else who enabled him," said Castro. "I take Merrick Garland at his word, I think yesterday when he said that no one in this country is above the law. I hope he sticks to that principle."
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He went on to say that the 187 minutes of inaction where Trump was sitting and watching it all unfold on television was "sociopathic."
"Of a president of the United States watching the United States Capitol under attack, hearing and understanding the vice president was being threatened to be hung, to just sit there and let it go down — it's sociopathic," said Castro.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) had the same thoughts after watching the first half of the hearings. She told Raw Story she was struck by just "what a corrupt, disgusting individual the former president was and how he clearly was as we've been seeing was trying to implement a coup. And there were a lot of cowards around him including the senator who makes a gesture and runs like a chicken when he's actually being chased by the insurrectionists."
She went on to say that she wants to ensure that Trump can never run for office ever again.
"He needs to pay the consequences for what he's done to this country," said Jayapal.
Rep. Annie Kuster (D-NH) similarly told Raw Story that what she found the security footage of the third floor where she and other members were able to jump into the elevator incredible. She counted just 30 seconds before there were attackers in the halls behind them.
"Every time the police push back on the barriers and push back on the crowd and held the thin blue line saved my life and saved our democracy and the president of the United States is doing nothing to protect us," said Rep. Kuster.
"It's very unsettling, in fact, it's very disturbing, "she continued. "And as victims of this attack, it's important for us to stand witness to this and make sure that the American people understand how close our democracy came."
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) told Raw Story that "Donald Trump, Josh Hawley and all of them — they're traitors. I hope this moves the Senate to act, because we passed legislation to protect our democracy and the Senate has been sitting on his hands — the Republicans."
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With additional reporting from Matt Laslo.
