Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) is suggesting there are “worse” things than people storming the Capitol without firearms.
“I just want the president to understand there have been things worse than people without any firearms coming into a building,” Gohmert said on the House floor on Friday.
Gohmert went on to cite Pearl Harbor and 9/11 as examples of greater attacks on American democracy.
“When Pearl Harbor occurred… that was more of an attack on democracy than the protests of January 6. When 9/11 occurred, and I know it’s been so long ago and a lot of people that have forgotten apparently about 9/11, 3,000 people killed, the Pentagon was hit, the two World Trade Centers were hit, thousands died,” he said.
Gohmert explained, “That was more of an attack on democracy.”
Watch his comments below:
For more context, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) cited Pearl Harbor and 9/11 as "more of an attack on democracy." pic.twitter.com/cS9p0LyLlP
— The Recount (@therecount) May 14, 2021
He is not the only one to suggest the January 6 insurrection was not as bad as it seems.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) suggested during a hearing on the preparation and response to the violence, “Let’s be honest with the American people, it was not an insurrection. And we cannot call it that and be truthful.”
He continued, “Watching the TV footage of those who entered Capitol and walked through Statutory Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes taking videos and pictures. You know, if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the sixth, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) responded to Clyde’s comments during her briefing on Thursday, as IJR reported.
“Really? Really? Well, I don’t know on a normal day around here when people are threatening to hang the vice president of the United States or shoot the speaker … or disrupt and injure so many police officers,” Pelosi said.
She called it “beyond denial, it fell into the range of sick.”
When pressed about his comments, Clyde told reporters, “You didn’t take what I said in context at all. So that’s just fake news.”
He continued, “You go listen to what I said, OK?”
Five people lost their lives on January 6. There were hundreds of injuries.