Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) shocked many conservatives on Wednesday when he echoed the left’s overwrought January 6 messaging during a Senate Rules Committee hearing, referring to the riot as a “violent terrorist attack on the Capitol,” and offering full-throated support for the Capitol Police, some of whose actions led to the deaths of multiple unarmed Trump supporters. Cruz thanked the police for “defending” the U.S. Capitol and said those who assaulted law enforcement officers should be prosecuted.
“We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week,” Cruz said. “And it is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol where we saw the men and women law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery, risk their lives to defend the men and women who serve in this Capitol.”
“My view is that anyone who commits an act of violence should be prosecuted,” Cruz said during Senate testimony from Capitol Police chief Wednesday. “And anyone who assaults a law enforcement officer should go to jail for a very long time. And I think that’s a principle that is true regardless of the politics of the violent criminal, whether they are right-wing, left-wing or they got no wings at all.”
Cruz asked Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger what could have been done differently to prevent the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“As we reflect on what happened a year ago, it is also worth asking as we have as this committee has as this Congress has, I know you have—what could have been done differently? What could have prevented the breach of the Capitol, what could have prevented the riot getting as far as it did?”
Manger blamed the breach on “clearly documented intelligence failures” and “leadership failures with the Capitol Police Department.”
Multiple Trump supporters appear to have died as a direct result of police brutality on January 6. Ashli Babbitt (35) was shot to death by Michael Byrd, a lieutenant with Capitol police, at near point-blank range just outside the Speaker’s Lobby at 2:43 p.m. on January 6.
Although her autopsy report indicated that Rosanne Boyland (34) died of a drug overdose, evidence suggests she was a victim of law enforcement’s brutal assault on Trump supporters trapped inside the lower west terrace tunnel at the Capitol building. Kevin Greeson (55) died of a heart attack after being repeatedly flash bombed and sprayed with chemical agents. A fourth Trump supporter, Benjamin Phillips (50) also died of a heart attack.
According to American Greatness reporter Julie Kelly, the Trump supporters didn’t start fighting back until the they were attacked.
Police began attacking crowds of protesters peacefully assembled outside the Capitol building around 1:15 p.m. on January 6, shortly after President Trump finished his speech at the Ellipse. Capitol Police deployed tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd while D.C. Metro police threw flashbangs and sting balls filled with rubber bullets, which prompted many of the initial confrontations between police and protesters.
“The minute you call it a ‘violent terrorist attack on the capitol,’ you lose most of your standing when complaining about the DOJ, Dems and Media because they have diff views than you how to handle a “violent terrorist attack on the capitol,” wrote political commentator Yossi Gestetner on Twitter.
“Cruz accepts the narrative that lawmakers were about to be lynched despite the fact that many hundreds calmly walked in the Capitol taking selfies and not moving rope lines. It was mostly calm where PD was not at hand,” Gestetner added in a subsequent tweet.
“The game is over, folks. Go home and get a life. You are wasting your time with the GOP,” he lamented.