Republican House member who voted to impeach Trump says she had a 'moment of total clarity' when Trump waited to condemn the Capitol riot
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- A GOP congresswoman said Trump was derelict in his duty for not doing more to stop the insurrection.
- Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler was one of 10 Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach Trump.
- She was also critical of the Senate's decision not to have witnesses testify during its trial.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting the insurrection, said she experienced "a moment of total clarity" when she witnessed two Capitol Police officers limp by her on January 6, 2021, after getting "the total shit kicked out of them" while Trump remained silent.
"In terms of responsibility, if you're a mile from the House, or from anywhere, and there's a massive riot taking place and you don't, as the commander in chief, try to stop it?" Herrera Beutler, who represents a competitive Republican-leaning district in Washington, told The Dispatch. "To me, the counting of electoral ballots is the Constitution in process."
She added: "And if you aren't willing to stop an attack on that, irrespective of your party, irrespective of everything, then it's a dereliction of your duty."
Herrera Beutler said she asked the two officers whether Trump had "said anything yet" or "gotten on TV" to condemn the riot as people continued to ransack the Capitol. She said the officers were "dazed."
"Excuse my language, but that was it. They were kind of limping and walking, and they were dazed, and they had bear spray on their faces," she said.
The House January 6, 2021, committee has detailed how top GOP lawmakers and the Fox News host Sean Hannity pleaded with the White House during the riot to get Trump to speak to people who professed to be his supporters.
Trump sent multiple tweets encouraging people to "stay peaceful" but waited over two hours after the mayhem had begun to speak publicly. He said the rioters should "go home," but he also expressed support for them, calling them "very special" and sympathizing with their outrage over the election.
Herrera Beutler also played a role in Trump's impeachment.
She was the first person to publicly relay an account of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's call to the president during the riot. According to Herrera Beutler, Trump told McCarthy that the mob was "more upset about the election than you are." Democratic lawmakers discussed calling on Beutler to testify during Trump's Senate trial after they made the surprise move to allow witnesses. But no witnesses were called, a decision Herrera Beutler disagreed with.
"My big takeaway was, 'Oh, you want to impeach him if you can make political points out of it,'" she said. "But if you really want to do the work of then telling the American people the why and showing them the why on TV, with Republicans asking questions and Democrats asking questions and letting the American people truly judge — you don't want to do it. That was a shame to me."
Trump has made it a point to target the 10 GOP lawmakers who voted to impeach him. In the fall, he endorsed a primary challenger to Herrera Beutler, a six-term incumbent.
"Folks in this district look at the totality of this person," Herrera Beutler said of her chances. "So to make a campaign on defending a riot at the Capitol a central issue for people in southwest Washington, I don't think it's going to turn out so well."
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the facts around Herrera Beutler's possible testimony during Trump's impeachment trial. She did not volunteer to testify. Rather, Democratic lawmakers at the time discussed potentially calling on her to testify.