GOP lawmakers liken rioters to tourists and call Ashli Babbitt killing an ‘execution’ in hearing...

As hundreds of people stormed the building while lawmakers convened to certify the 2020 presidential election results, roughly 150 officers were injured, and two officers who assisted in the response died by suicide in the days that followed. One officer died after suffering two strokes and injuries from the riot.

“You would think it was a normal tourist visit,” said US Rep Andrew Clyde. “There was no insurrection. To call it an insurrection is a bold-faced lie.”

The “real” insurrection, he said, was the FBI’s investigation into “Russia, Russia, Russia” following the 2016 elections.

Several Republicans also steered away from questions about the events surrounding and leading up to the riot to accuse Democrats of supporting protest violence in the wake of uprisings across the US in 2020.

US Rep Ralph Norman also doubted that the crowd that broke into the building and walked through the halls and offices of Congress were Trump supporters.