Murphy: Thanks To Trump, Political Violence In This Country Just Became Mainstream

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Wednesday spoke on the U.S. Senate floor to call out Republicans' hypocrisy on U.S. national security. As Republicans try to expedite the confirmation of John Ratcliffe as CIA Director on the basis of national security, Murphy called out their silence on President Donald Trump's endorsement of political violence with the pardoning of hundreds of convicted violent January 6^th rioters.

Murphy called out Republicans for pretending to care about national security while President Trump pardoned and set free hundreds of violent January 6^th rioters: "I hear Republicans claiming that my decision to ask for one day of debate on a controversial nominee to lead the CIA somehow compromises our national security. So let me say this: spare me. Two days ago, President Donald Trump pardoned 1500 rioters-including the most violent rioters-who stormed this building four years ago, brutally beat law enforcement over the head with poles, tried to crush the heads of Capitol Police officers, walked around here with zip ties looking to do God-knows-what to any Democratic congressmen or senators they found. They assembled gallows and a noose outside the Capitol to chants of 'hang Mike Pence.'"

Murphy continued: "All my Republican colleagues were here when a Capitol Police officer burst through that door to rush us to safety before the mob attacked us. And Republicans all of a sudden claim that law and order is a priority, and we have to rush through nominees, and yet they stand by a president who just threw law and order out the window by pardoning not some of the rioters, but all of them. Political violence in this country just became mainstream. It is now a fact of life in America. If you commit an act of horrific violence in the name of the president of the United States, that president will make sure that you get away with it. That is fundamentally un-American, and it makes this country less safe. Let me guarantee you, a one-day delay, a one-day debate on the confirmation of a CIA Director does no damage to our nation's security compared to the decision to pardon every single January 6 rioter charged and convicted of crimes, and to let out of jail some of the most violent rioters."

"So, here's the message: if you beat up a police officer in this country, you're going to jail for a long time-with one exception. You don't go to jail if you beat the hell out of a police officer in the service of Donald Trump. If you're engaged in violence to further Donald Trump's political career, then you face no consequences. What happened this week is that political violence got mainstreamed in America," Murphy added.

Murphy concluded: "There are still a lot of radical, dangerous people out there in this world, and they now know that if they carry out violence in the name of Donald Trump-if they beat up police officers, if they attack Democratic officials and they're doing it to support Donald Trump-they are likely immune. That puts this nation's security in jeopardy. That puts our lives in jeopardy. And I'm just going to say it- it puts Democrats' lives in jeopardy in particular. Remember, D.J. Rodriguez went to the gallows and said, 'No Democrats here, unfortunately.' Where is the broad, righteous indignation from my Republican colleagues about that? Yes, a few of my Republican colleagues have criticized the pardons. I am thankful to them. But it's a minority. It is a small handful. Most Senate Republicans are silent. The wholesale endorsement of political violence is a grave national security threat to this nation. Having a one-day debate on the nomination of CIA director is not."

A full transcript of his remarks can be found below:

MURPHY: "Thank you Mr. President. Mr. President, I want to address some concerns that my Republican colleagues have raised about my decision to insist on a one-day debate on the nomination of John Ratcliffe to be the Director of the CIA.

"Plain and simple, I think that we should take some time - one day - to consider one of the most important, sensitive national security posts in this new administration. I do not think it makes sense to ram through Mr. Ratcliffe's nomination with only 120 minutes of debate, as was the suggestion last night. Many people here have raised serious concerns about his qualifications.

"For instance, during his short tenure as Director of National Intelligence, Mr. Ratcliffe showed a very troubling propensity to play politics with sensitive intelligence. Most notoriously, just one month before the 2020 election, on the day of the debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Mr. Ratcliffe chose to declassify a cherry-picked CIA memo from four years earlier that outlined Russian claims that Hillary Clinton had approved a plan to tie Trump to Russia's hack of the DNC so that Trump could use that in the debate.

"These were unverified Russian intelligence claims, and Mr. Ratcliffe's decision went against explicit warnings by CIA personnel that its release would put in jeopardy CIA sources, methods, and personnel. But he did it anyway on the day of the debate, a month before the election, because its release would help Donald Trump's reelection campaign.

"Now, it's true during this day of debate that we are having before we vote, likely tomorrow, senators may not be coming to the floor to give lengthy speeches on Mr. Ratcliffe's nomination. But this debate time, this day, gives all of my colleagues the time to carefully review the record and consider whether Mr. Ratcliffe is qualified.

"Now maybe members of the Senate Intelligence Committee have had the time to do a full study, but the full Senate has not. So it's not too much to ask, given the very real concerns about this nominee's politicization of intelligence, for us to take a day. Not a week, not two weeks. A day, for senators to take the time to consider the record.

"But I want to make a broader point. I hear Republicans claiming that my decision to ask for one day of debate on a controversial nominee to lead the CIA somehow compromises our national security.

"So let me say this: spare me.

"Two days ago, President Donald Trump pardoned 1500 rioters-including the most violent rioters-who stormed this building four years ago, brutally beat law enforcement over the head with poles, tried to crush the heads of Capitol Police officers, walked around here with zip ties looking to do God-knows-what to any Democratic congressmen or senators they found. They assembled gallows and a noose outside the Capitol to chants of 'hang Mike Pence.'

"All my Republican colleagues were here when a Capitol Police officer burst through that door to rush us to safety before the mob attacked us. And Republicans all of a sudden claim that law and order is a priority, and we have to rush through nominees, and yet they stand by a president who just threw law and order out the window by pardoning not some of the rioters, but all of them.

"Political violence in this country just became mainstream. It is now a fact of life in America. If you commit an act of horrific violence in the name of the president of the United States, that president will make sure that you get away with it. That is fundamentally un-American, and it makes this country less safe.

"Let me guarantee you, a one-day delay, a one-day debate on the confirmation of a CIA Director does no damage to our nation's security, compared to the decision to pardon every single January 6 rioter charged and convicted of crimes, and to let out of jail some of the most violent rioters. And just to hammer home the point, if you don't believe me, let me explain to you who Donald Trump let out of jail yesterday.

"This is David Dempsey. He gave an interview in front of the gallows that had been built and fitted with a noose. He said he was at the Capitol that day-January 6th-because Nancy Pelosi, James Comey, the Obamas and the Clintons need to hang. At the Capitol, he climbed to the front of the mob and immediately began attacking law enforcement officers who were trying to protect us. He used his hands, feet, flag poles, crutches, broken pieces of furniture and anything else he could find as a weapon to attack police officers.

"At around 4:00pm that day, Dempsey pepper sprayed DC Detective Phuson Nguyen, as another rioter yanked off the detective's gas mask. The spray burned Detective Nguyen's lungs, throat, eyes- it left him gasping for breath, fearing that he might lose consciousness and be overwhelmed by the mob.

"Moments later, because Dempsey wasn't done, he hit Sergeant Jason Mastony over the head with a metal crutch. He struck him with so much force that it cracked the shield of his gas mask, causing Sergeant Mastony to collapse as his ears started ringing. Dempsey wasn't done, though. He was thorough, he was vicious. He kept going. He sprayed chemical agents at officers, he stomped on their heads, he hit them repeatedly with metal and wooden poles. Dempsey's violence reached such extremes that at one point he actually attacked another rioter who was trying to stop him. He was sentenced by a jury of his peers to significant jail time for his litany of brutal attacks, as anyone in this country would. He walked out of jail last night in the middle of his sentence because Donald Trump pardoned him.

"That's D.J. Rodriguez. He didn't make any bones about what he was coming to the Capitol to do. The night before the insurrection, D.J. Rodriguez posted on Telegram, 'There will be blood. Welcome to the revolution.' For weeks, he and members of his violent right-wing group had been organizing and planning what they were going to do. He encouraged members of the group to get a large knife [and] told them where they could buy bear spray. He said he highly recommended to wear goggles with breath holes, told them where they could get an axe handle. He was prepping for war. He began rather innocently, just spraying a fire extinguisher at a line of officers. When that didn't work, he found a long wooden pole to attack the officers. He wasn't done. Thirty-seven minutes of repeated frantic attempts to breach the Capitol, and he finally got to the mouth of the tunnel in the lower West Terrace. He grabbed an officer by the neck, dragged him into the mob. He takes a taser and tases the officer in the head. The officer screams in pain, recoils from the shock, jerks back his head. Rodriguez isn't done, because he wants this guy dead. He strikes him again directly in the neck. The officer yells out, but it's over, the officer collapses, unconscious, and another officer has to drag his lifeless body away from the mob. The officer suffered a heart attack. His law enforcement career is over.

"Later that day, Rodriguez went to those gallows, took a picture, and posted: 'No Democrats, unfortunately.' After being convicted of beating a police officer by a jury of his peers, D.J. Rodriguez was pardoned by Donald Trump.

"This is Thomas Webster. He traveled to D.C. ready for battle with a bulletproof vest. He carried a large metal flagpole with him to the riot at the Capitol. He led the charge against the police line. He spent eight minutes elbowing his way through the crowd so that he could be at the front of the mob. He used that pole to repeatedly attack police officers. He slammed it so hard the metal pole broke in half. So then he just charged directly at one officer, tackling him to the ground. He grabbed the officer by the helmet, dragged him and pinned him to the ground, as Webster tried to rip off the officer's gas mask. The officer began to struggle for breath because he was being choked by the chinstrap. And as he gasped for air, Webster held him down on the ground and other rioters kicked him repeatedly. After that Webster was so fired up, he posted a live video. He pleaded, 'Send more patriots, we need some help.'

"He was convicted of all six counts of his indictment, including assaulting a police officer, like anybody would be in this country if they did what Thomas Webster did. He walked out of jail in the middle of his sentence Monday night, pardoned by Donald Trump.

"So here's the message: if you beat up a police officer in this country, you're going to jail for a long time-with one exception. You don't go to jail if you beat the hell out of a police officer in the service of Donald Trump. If you're engaged in violence to further Donald Trump's political career, then you face no consequences. What happened this week is that political violence got mainstreamed in America.

"There are still a lot of radical, dangerous people out there in this world, and they now know that if they carry out violence in the name of Donald Trump-if they beat up police officers, if they attack Democratic officials and they're doing it to support Donald Trump-they are likely immune. That puts this nation's security in jeopardy. That puts our lives in jeopardy. And I'm just going to say it- it puts Democrats' lives in jeopardy in particular. Remember, D.J. Rodriguez went to the gallows and said, 'No Democrats here, unfortunately.' Where is the broad, righteous indignation from my Republican colleagues about that? Yes, a few of my Republican colleagues have criticized the pardons. I am thankful to them. But it's a minority. It is a small handful. Most Senate Republicans are silent. The wholesale endorsement of political violence is a grave national security threat to this nation. Having a one-day debate on the nomination of CIA director is not. I yield the floor."

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