Wednesday’s riots on Capitol Hill by supporters of President Donald Trump have been described by top federal lawmakers, including Senate Majority and Minority leaders Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as an “insurrection.”
Some of Arkansas’ top state officials and Congressional delegation have also expressed their thoughts.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted the following in response to the riots: “To see protesters in our nation’s Capitol invading the Halls of Congress & disrupting the peaceful transfer of power is reprehensible.”
Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-AR4) released a statement Thursday morning that read, in part, “While members of Congress were peaceably and constitutionally debating the electoral votes yesterday, rioters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol, resulting in death, destruction and a national disgrace. This is unacceptable, and I condemn these actions in the strongest terms.”
Westerman concluded his statement noting that he took an oath to defend the Constitution, “not to defend a party or a person” and saying work must be done to ensure confidence in the country’s political processes and institutions.
“Now, more than ever, we need to demonstrate strong leadership and work to restore trust in our election process through independent audits, oversight and more. This much is clear: what happened yesterday on many different levels must never happen again,” Westerman said in an official statement.
State Sen. Trent Garner (R-El Dorado) released his own statement on social media.
“I condemn the riot at the Capitol and will never support attacking our law enforcement,” Garner said in the statement.
While condemning the riots on Capitol Hill, Garner also reaffirmed his allegiance to Trump and evoked some of the destruction that took place during protests around racial injustice and police brutality last summer when pointing out what he believes to be political hypocrisy.
“I’m standing with President Trump and what he fights for,” Garner said in his statement. “I will not be lectured about violence after we had months of cities burning down and people being killed during ‘peaceful protests.’ The leaders of the left encouraged and celebrated it.”
When asked what he would say to those that argue Black people protesting for an end to racial injustice and police brutality is not the same as pro-Trump supporters protesting over unproven allegations of a stolen election, Garner said they are not similar.
“There is no comparison between the two,” Garner said. “Yesterday’s actions were bad and terrible but it was a small isolated event — compared to the billion dollars of damage over the summer and civil unrest. Dozens of people killed, police hurt. The terrible violence over the last year due to the civil unrest compared to yesterday is not equatable.”
The News Times also made inquiries to Arkansas Speaker of the House Rep. Matthew Shepherd (R-El Dorado) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R-Smackover) but neither could be reached by press time.