Spartacus/Gropacus a/k/a Cory Booker is at it against, Save Jerseyans. And by “it,” I mean play-acting in the most disingenuous manner possible for maximum dramatic effect without any grounding in reality.
On Sunday, New Jersey’s junior Democratic senator visited Tokyo Red’s Sunday show on MSNBC to opine on Donald Trump’s recent Capitol Hill visit. His response was classic Cory, claiming that January 6th had claimed the lives of “multiple police officers” when, in fact, not a single police officer died at the scene “in the line of duty” that fateful day…
The transcript:
JEN PSAKI: Donald Trump made his first trip to Capitol Hill since the insurrection, which is startling, I think, for many of us. I can’t get the image out of my head of Mitch McConnell, who said Trump committed a disgraceful dereliction of duty during January 6th, and others who seem to be embracing him but had similar sentiments at the moment. I just want to ask you how you digested that, especially given how many of these senators felt about him around the events of January 6th.
CORY BOOKER: It’s interesting you mention this in a national forum, but in the private conversations of senators, we all remember how dark that day was. The world’s most deliberative body, in a sacred civic space, had to be chased out, literally running for their lives to avoid a mob that was chanting murderous chants. It ultimately led to the deaths of multiple police officers.
And the person who incited it all — don’t take my word for it, again, take Republicans time after time, condemning what Donald Trump did. He was on trial for it. He was impeached. And ultimately numbers of Republicans voted to convict him for what he did. He showed back up at the scene of the crime, and people who spoke very passionately about the President of the United States really undermining the dignity of the office and inspiring a riot showed back up to the Capitol. It brought a lot of that pain back.
Talking to some Capitol Police officers who went through hell on that day, who showed the greatest honor, willing to put their lives on the line, and to have Donald Trump now be the person they are escorting to and fro, was painful.
Here’s the video if you can stomach it:
Sen. Cory Booker: Trump “Returning To The Scene Of The Crime” Of J-6 Was “Painful” For Capitol Police, Senate Staff https://t.co/SpwCGkIeV4 pic.twitter.com/NdNPHUwy4n
— RCP Video (@rcpvideo) June 16, 2024
“Led to” is a deliberately vague commentary. The truth?
One officer (Brian Sicknick) suffered a stroke post-riot but was ultimately deemed to have died of natural causes by the medical examiner. “The USCP accepts the findings from the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner that Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes,” the Capitol Police replied in a statement at the time. “This does not change the fact Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol.”
None of that stopped multiple publications and outlets including the AP from FALSELY alleging that Sicknick had been killed the Capitol. He wasn’t.
Four other officers who happened to be present at the riot committed suicide in the weeks and months following the riot. Connecting the events of January 6th to a suicide weeks or months later is speculative (at best).
To quote Andrew McCarthy of National Review (not exactly a pro-Trump publication), writing in 2022 long after the dust had settled, “[w]e can acknowledge the traumatic events of that day — and the role they might’ve played in some officers’ later deaths — without bending the truth.”
We can! But Cory can’t help himself. It’s not in his nature.
