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GOP lawmakers condemned the Jan. 6 attack. Over 3 years later, many endorsed Donald Trump anyway.
The past can be a challenge for people who would rather dwell on the future.
Despite having objected to the 2020 presidential election results from his home state of Pennsylvania, Lloyd Smucker was blistering in his condemnation of the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Republican congressman said in a statement a few days after the assault that the actions taken “by extremists” were “wholly unacceptable.”
“I fully reject the violence that occurred last Wednesday and support the prosecution of the insurrectionists to the fullest extent of the law,” he said back then.
And even after he voted against impeaching former President Donald Trump for what took place, Smucker conceded that “it was wrong for President Trump to give false hope that led many people to believe that the election results still could have been overturned last Wednesday.”
Today, Smucker is among the majority of Republicans in Congress who have endorsed the former president’s 2024 White House run even after a mob, riled by false claims of a rigged and stolen election, assaulted the U.S. Capitol and brought chaos to the certification of the 2020 presidential contest that Trump had lost.
Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
“I’d be happy to have Trump as president again,” Smucker said, claiming when asked about Jan. 6 he “never called them insurrectionists.”
Among Trump’s supporters are elected GOP leaders who either claim to have not been as harsh in their labeling of the Jan. 6 mob as they really were, or who have backed away from the firm stances they once took when the attack and its horrific toll was fresh on voters’ minds.
“The facts have not changed,” said Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who led a bipartisan committee that investigated the attack. “But the politics have.”
A return to Trump’s side
Although he voted in February of 2021 to acquit Trump in his impeachment trial, GOP Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said in a statement at the time that “the focus must be to arrest and prosecute the domestic terrorists who broke into our Capitol, attacked law enforcement officers, sought to cause harm, and tried to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.”
“They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.
Since then, Daines’ stature in Washington has grown while Trump has failed to fade away. The Montana Republican took over as chairman of the campaign arm focused on winning the Senate majority back for the GOP after a disappointing 2022 midterm performance for the party.
When asked on Capitol Hill last week about his past comment and the people that breached the Capitol, Daines said “I condemn all violence. They were not domestic terrorists.”
Daines has endorsed Trump, who he said “accomplished more in the four years as president than any president I’ve seen in my lifetime.” The best four years he’s had in the Senate happened with the former president in the White House, Daines said.
“I can’t wait to see President Trump back in the Oval Office,” he said.
Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito told MetroNews the day after the attack that Trump had been convincing people the election was stolen even though the facts did not show that to be true.
“I think the president does own this,” she said then.
Now, Capito is supporting Trump’s 2024 White House run, describing the decision as being about policy. Her stance on whether the president owns what happened on Jan. 6 is far less clear.
“History will make that judgment,” she said.
Attempting to separate Trump from the violence
Just days after the Capitol assault, and objecting to the presidential election results in two swing states, South Carolina Rep. William Timmons said in a statement that “the actions…by those who breached the U.S. Capitol are the very definition of domestic terrorism.”
“There are no excuses for attacking law enforcement, breaking barricades, shattering windows, and busting down doors to gain entry,” Timmons said at the time. “Anyone who was complicit in these acts of domestic terrorism should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This act of insurrection cannot go unpunished.”
He has since endorsed Trump. And last month, he traveled to New Hampshire and appeared on stage at a Trump rally in a show of support with other South Carolina Republican leaders.
Timmons said in an email last week that “President Trump bears no responsibility for the small number of individuals who broke laws on Jan. 6.”
A CBS News review of court records shows more than 1,200 people have been charged in the investigation of the attack, with the severity of the charges varying. Alleged crimes range from illegal picketing inside the Capitol to assaults on police officers and destruction of government property. So far, over 700 people have pleaded guilty while more than 100 have been convicted at federal trials.
Trump was impeached by the House shortly after the attack for inciting an insurrection, but was acquitted by the Senate. The seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump amounted to the biggest GOP stand against him since he won the White House back in 2016.
His current stranglehold on the GOP has come even as he faces criminal charges in four different cases, including over the actions he allegedly took in trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Mr. Biden.
The number of his critics within the party continues to dwindle, given the Trump orbit’s focus on ridding the GOP of people who appear to oppose him.
“It’s very clear that President Trump encouraged a interference in the peaceful transition of power and tried to retain his hold on the White House,” said Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who voted to convict the former president in the impeachment trial over the attack and later decided not to seek another term in Congress.
An attempt has been made within the GOP to try separating the Capitol attack from Trump’s false allegations about widespread voter fraud. That endeavor has been undercut by the sprawling federal investigation into Jan. 6.
A man from Minnesota named Brian Mock was found guilty after shoving police outside the Capitol.
“I was there because I believed, and still do, that if you’ve got the President of the United States and his lawyers saying there’s evidence of fraud, that should be seen,” Mock said in court last summer, according to an official transcript.
And Zachary Rehl, a member of the far-right Proud Boys who was convicted of the most serious charge connected with the attack, seditious conspiracy, and sentenced to 15 years in prison, said in court that he fell for “lies” about a stolen 2020 presidential election “hook, line, and sinker.”
“Jan. 6 was a despicable day,” Rehl said.
What gets remembered and what gets lost
What happened on Jan. 6 is central to Trump’s legacy, regardless of the attempts to downplay or disregard what happened during the final days of his presidency.
There was his rally at the Ellipse in which he urged for the crowd to walk to the U.S. Capitol where lawmakers were set to certify the 2020 presidential election results despite Trump’s determination to overturn his loss.
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong,” Trump said. He added a few moments later, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
And there were the images and video of the pro-Trump rioters storming the Capitol, injuring law enforcement officers, while members of Congress and staff hid for their safety.
Since then, many elected Republicans in Washington have chosen to move on, forget or rationalize.
“It is a dark turn of events that there are Republicans who called the insurrection terrorism or indefensible violence but now today are trying to whitewash it in Donald Trump’s fantasy land,”
said Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland who served on the House Jan. 6 committee. “It’s a very dangerous sign for the Republic because when you try to send a cataclysmic attack on the Republic down the memory hole, it means they are setting us up for the next attack.”
Early in the afternoon on Jan. 6, Congressman Ronny Jackson of Texas, who had served as White House physician earlier in Trump’s presidency, touted on social media about being on hand at Trump’s rally, declaring “American Patriots have your BACK Mr. President! We will FIGHT for YOU.”
After the riot ended, Jackson was among a majority of House Republicans who continued to support failed objections to the presidential election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania. He nonetheless labeled the attack as “a stain on our nation,” in a statement.
Walking out of the Capitol earlier this month, Jackson declared that “President Trump didn’t have a damn thing to do with Jan. 6.”
Trying to make the former president responsible for what happened that day “is ridiculous,” he said.
“I wouldn’t endorse that ever happening again, and I feel bad that it happened,” Jackson said. “I think that it’s been basically made into something that it’s not.”
Last week, Jackson joined Timmons, the congressman from South Carolina, and more than 60 other House Republicans in supporting a new measure claiming the former president “did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or give aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
After Jan. 6, there were people within the GOP “bad mouthing” Trump who thought what had happened would be “the last nail in President Trump’s coffin,” Jackson said. But in Jackson’s view, they made a miscalculation. And as time passed on, people kept realizing that Trump is still the leader of the party and carries immense influence.
“A lot of them tried to backtrack and figure out how they could undo some of the stuff they’d said,” Jackson said. “I think a lot of them exposed themselves for who they are.”
Robert Legare and Olivia Rinaldi contributed to this report.
CBS News
Rep. Mike Turner says all “candidates need to deescalate” after Trump assassination attempts
Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, responded Sunday to Eric Trump’s implication that his father’s Democratic opponents were responsible for the attempts on former President Trump’s life, saying the innuendo was “of course” inaccurate but political candidates on both sides of the aisle “need to deescalate” their rhetoric.
“No, of course not,” Turner said in his latest appearance on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” after being asked whether he believes there was truth to claims made by the former president, his son Eric, and his vice presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance, at a rally where each either implied or suggested Democrats tried to kill him.
Trump returned Saturday to Butler, Pennsylvania, to speak to supporters gathered at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds, the site of the July 13 assassination attempt against him. A gunman facing Trump on the podium at that rally opened fire into the crowd, grazing Trump’s ear, killing one attendee and injuring two others, according to authorities. The gunman was killed by a Secret Service sniper, officials said.
Another apparent assassination attempt happened in September when a suspect pointed a gun in Trump’s direction on the Florida course where he was playing golf. The FBI has opened probes into both incidents.
CBS News
Trump, his son and Vance all acknowledged the assassination attempt in Butler at Saturday’s campaign event.
“Over the past eight years, those who want to stop us from achieving this future have slandered me impeached me indicted me tried to throw me off the ballot and, who knows, maybe even tried to kill me,” said the former president, while Eric Trump claimed his father’s political opponents “tried to kill him, and it’s because the Democratic party, they can’t do anything right.”
Vance, in his remarks, addressed Trump’s Democratic challenger in the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, and suggested that the Republican nominee “took a bullet for democracy.”
Brennan asked Turner: “You don’t mean to imply here anything that would suggest Eric Trump’s allegations that Democrats are trying to kill him?”
“No, of course not,” Turner responded. “But I do think that Vice President Harris needs to actively state and acknowledge that her administration is saying a foreign power, which would be an act of war, is actively trying to kill her opponent.”
The attempts on Trump’s life came after a citizen of Pakistan with ties to Iran was arrested and charged with allegedly planning a murder-for-hire scheme targeting Trump, among others. Although the timing of the charges coincided with the first attempt, there was no indication that the two incidents were related.
Turner criticized Harris for what he viewed as a failure to openly condemn the alleged plot.
“I think there’s certainly a role for her to play and for the president to play in this, in both identifying that there are threats against Donald Trump that need to be acknowledged and responded to, to deter,” he said. “I think all the candidates need to de-escalate, certainly in their language.”
But the congressman did acknowledge that a Biden-Harris Justice Department official, Matthew Olsen, the head of the national security division, said the U.S. government has been “intensely tracking Iranian lethal plotting efforts targeting former and current U.S. government officials — and that includes the former president.”
“I would say that we are very concerned — gravely concerned — about Iranian plotting,” Olsen told CBS News in a recent interview.
Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified into a Category 1 storm on Sunday, and it has set its path on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Forecasters predict Milton will make landfall around the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday, bringing with it upwards of 120 mph winds and drenching an area still reeling from Hurricane Helene.
As of 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Milton was centered about 290 miles west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 815 miles west-southwest of Tampa. It had maximum sustained winds of nearly 80 mph and was inching north-northeast at 6 mph.
Path of Hurricane Milton
A map from the National Hurricane Center shows Milton continuing to strengthen into a major hurricane as it approaches Florida’s western coast.
“Milton is forecast to rapidly intensify during the next couple of days and become a major hurricane on Monday,” forecasters said.
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
The storm is expected to remain north of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, with heavy rainfall expected as Milton makes its way northeast toward Florida. Tropical storm watches are currently in effect from Celestun to Cancún, Mexico.
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
The hurricane center said hurricane and storm surge watches could be issued for parts of Florida later Sunday.
Florida officials prepare for more impact
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen just where Milton will strike, it’s clear that Florida is going to be hit hard. “I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point,” he said.
“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” the governor said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”
NOAA via AP
DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration Sunday to 51 counties and said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruptions, making sure they have a week’s worth of food and water and are ready to hit the road.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, meanwhile, coordinated with the governor and briefed President Biden Sunday on how it has staged lifesaving resources.
“I highly encourage you to evacuate” if you’re in an evacuation zone, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “We are preparing … for the largest evacuation that we have seen, most likely since 2017, Hurricane Irma. “
As many as 4,000 National Guard troops are helping state crews to remove debris, DeSantis said.
“All available state assets … are being marshaled to help remove debris,” DeSantis said. “We’re going 24-7 … it’s all hands on deck.”
An American climber was rescued after she and another alpinist from the U.K. were stranded for two days at more than 20,000 feet in the Himalayan mountains.
Michelle Dvorak, 31, and Fay Manners, 37, went missing on Thursday after their equipment and food tumbled down a ravine while trekking up India’s Chaukhamba mountain, CBS News partner BBC reported.
The pair sent an emergency message but search and rescue teams were unable to find them.
INDIAN AIR FORCE/Handout via REUTERS
Manners told the BBC they were “terrified” as they tried to make part of the descent down the treacherous mountains without supplies.
“I watched the bag tumble down the mountain and I immediately knew the consequence of what was to come,” she said. “We had none of our safety equipment left. No tent. No stove to melt snow for water. No warm clothes for the evening.”
The terrifying ordeal intensified when it started to snow. They took cover on a ledge while waiting for rescuers.
“I felt hypothermic, constantly shaking and with the lack of food my body was running out of energy to keep warm,” Manners said.
The rescue was made difficult because of the conditions, including bad weather, fog and high altitude.
“The helicopter flew passed again, couldn’t see us. We were destroyed,” Manners told the BBC.
INDIAN AIR FORCE/Handout via REUTERS
On the second day, the pair began to cautiously abseil down the mountain. They spotted a team of French climbers coming toward them. Manners said they shared their equipment and food and contacted the helicopter company with an exact location.
“I cried with relief knowing we might survive,” she said.
The Indian Air Force said in a post on the X social media platform that their helicopter airlifted the climbers from 17,400 feet after “battling two days of bad weather.”
Chaukhamba is a mountain massif in the Garhwal Himalaya in northern India.
