Cultist Rep Defends “Tourists” Claim In Fiery Exchange

Forbes reports:

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) said during a fiery back-and-forth in a House committee hearing on Tuesday that he stands by comments comparing the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to a “normal tourist visit” and his vote against congressional gold medals for law enforcement that responded to the attack, on the same day that four officers told of their near-death experiences defending the Capitol.

The back-and-forth often devolved into shouting matches between the two lawmakers, with Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the Rules Committee chair, intervening several times to “lower the decibel.” “We are here to discuss this amendment and you are obviously not interested in that. You want to make this another Jan. 6 hearing, and it’s not! This is the rules committee!” Clyde said at one point.

Wild exchange between Jamie Raskin and Andrew Clyde during rules committee meeting just now. Raskin asked Clyde if he still stood by his statement calling 1/6 “normal tourist visit” and read out Clyde’s entire statement.

Clyde: “I stand by that exact statement as I said it.”

— Annie Grayer (@AnnieGrayerCNN) July 28, 2021

This came after Raskin asked Clyde initially if he stood by his initial statements and Clyde said he wanted Raskin to read his whole statement. Raskin came prepared and read the whole quote out loud.

— Annie Grayer (@AnnieGrayerCNN) July 28, 2021

Clyde’s full quote that Raskin read during the rules committee hearing: pic.twitter.com/nXK6zFXc5e

— Annie Grayer (@AnnieGrayerCNN) July 28, 2021

But Clyde then repeatedly rejected Raskin’s premise that the people who attacked the Capitol on January 6 were terrorists and not tourists.

“That statement did not say that those people were tourists” Clyde said. “Read the statement.”

— Annie Grayer (@AnnieGrayerCNN) July 28, 2021

When Raskin tried another way by asking Clyde to respond to police officers taking issue with “an internet meme that the people here were just tourists,”
Clyde: “I’m not responsible for an internet meme, okay?” “You want to make this another January 6 hearing, but it’s not.”

— Annie Grayer (@AnnieGrayerCNN) July 28, 2021

Explosive back-and-forth in the Rules Committee as Jan. 6 select committee member Jamie Raskin uses his time to grill GOP Rep. Andrew Clyde on his comments downplaying Jan. 6.

“I stand by that exact statement as I said it,” Clyde says of his “normal tourist visit” remark. pic.twitter.com/Fn9JqYVWAI

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) July 27, 2021

If Rep. Clyde (R-GA09) thought the Jan 6th terrorists were “just tourists” why was he terrified enough to help barricade the door to the House chamber against them? pic.twitter.com/BkiLIe3BBs

— Ellen Spivak (@EllenSpivak) July 28, 2021