‘YOU GUYS HELD’

GOP Rep. Kinzinger Fights Back Tears During Contentious Jan. 6 Hearing

“You guys may individually feel a little broken,” said the breakaway Republican. “But you guys won. You guys held.”

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois may have been scorned by House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy as a “Pelosi Republican” for agreeing to serve on the bipartisan Jan. 6 select committee, but he nearly broke down in tears as he delivered a statement on Tuesday to four cops who were there as the Capitol came under siege by a pro-Trump mob. “I never expected this day to be quite as emotional for me as it has been,” Kinzinger said, voice cracking. “You guys may individually feel a little broken. You guys all talk about the effects you have to deal with, and you talk about the impact of that day. But you guys won. You guys held.”

He continued: “We still don't know exactly what happened. Why? Because many in my party have treated this as just another partisan fight. It’s toxic and it’s a disservice to the officers and their families. To the staff and the employees on the Capitol complex to the American people who deserve the truth. And to those generations before us who went to war to defend self-governance, because self-governance is at stake. And it’s why I agreed to serve on this committee.”

Kinzinger then asked the four officers sitting before him, “Does this feel like old history to any of the four of you? Time to move on?” They all said—in no uncertain terms—no. As Kinzinger wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday in The New York Times, “We need to be fearless about understanding the motivations of our fellow Americans, even if it makes us uncomfortable about the truth of who they are and the truth of who played what role in inspiring them.”