WASHINGTON – In a video posted on Facebook, Couy Griffin, the founder of a group called Cowboys for Trump, boasted that he had a “front row seat” for the Capitol riot on January 6 and considered returning to another rally in which he imagined “blood dripping from that building,” said the FBI. He later told the FBI that he expected the next demonstration to be non-violent, but there was “no option that is off the table in favor of freedom”.
He was arrested before he could hold another rally on Induction Day as planned. But first, he returned to his post as Otero County Commissioner in southern New Mexico, where an effort to oust him has now taken on a new lease of life.
Griffin “went straight to sedition,” said Paul Sanchez, a Republican who heads a committee that hopes to revoke him. “His focus is not on Otero County.”
Griffin, who was accused of breaking into the Capitol, was no different than many others there that day: he had a deep loyalty to former President Donald J. Trump and a belief that the election was rigged. He is also among at least 19 elected officials from across the country now under strong political scrutiny at home, because they attended the president’s rally and, in some cases, stormed the Capitol building along with a crowd that became violent in his effort. to prevent the vote this would make the election of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. official.
His critics say government officials have a particular duty not to endorse Trump’s baseless claim that the election was stolen.
In the weeks following the riot, state and local politicians, including some supporters of former President Trump, worked to distance themselves from the local authorities who were involved. In some cases, local Republican organizations have condemned participants. Many elected officials, some of whom met in Washington that day, but never entered the Capitol, are under pressure to resign. At least one state legislator apologized for his involvement and stepped down.
“The problem is, how do you support someone who demonstrates that kind of judgment” to attend the January 6 events, asked Nick Corcodilos, a former Republican mayor in Clinton Township, NJ, who left the party around 2014. ” How does someone judge someone who attends a rally where a president urges his followers, his audience, to go to the Capitol building and commit violence? “
As for one of Mr. Corcodilos’ local county commissioners who posed in front of the Capitol on January 6: “It’s not someone I want to run my county or represent myself.”
In addition to Griffin, a West Virginia state legislator and a Massachusetts city council member were among those who invaded the Capitol. Earlier in the day, in demonstrations asking Congress to cancel the Electoral College vote, the crowd included a Missouri state representative, a California City Council member, a Virginia state senator, and a new Nevada state deputy.
In New Mexico, the Democratic attorney general has now promised to seek the removal of Griffin, and his fellow county commissioners – two Republicans – have asked him to step down. The president of state Republicans said that Griffin “does not represent” the state party.
Still, it does not appear that Griffin, who was kept in isolation after refusing to do a coronavirus test in Washington prison, intends to voluntarily leave his post. His lawyer, David Smith, said in an interview that he “had no reason to think he would resign from the commission”.
Among the most prominent participants in the riot was Derrick Evans, a newly elected member of the West Virginia House of Delegates who filmed himself entering the Capitol. Governor Jim Justice, a Republican, called Mr. Evans is an “absolute idiot” and his actions are “shameful”. Roger Hanshaw, the Republican president of the House of West Virginia, said Evans “would need to respond to his voters and colleagues about his involvement in what happened.”
Three days later, he resigned.
“I take full responsibility for my actions and deeply regret any hurt, pain or embarrassment that may have caused my family, friends, constituents and comrades in West Virginia,” said Evans in a written statement.
Some Republicans were careful to balance their continued support for Trump with the condemnation of those who entered the Capitol. Roman Stauffer, acting chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party, said state leaders had condemned Evans’ actions. He also said that his office had received an “enormous amount” of messages asking the state party to affirm its support for Trump, but had received none about Evans.
“There are people from West Virginia who care deeply about President Trump, and President Trump will continue to be an influential voice in our party here in West Virginia,” said Stauffer. He said he hoped “Evans’ actions would not reflect on the thousands of other West Virginians who support the president.”
In Natick, Massachusetts, a petition that gathered nearly 1,700 signatures calls for the dismissal of Suzanne Ianni, an elected member of the General Assembly, for her participation in the mutiny. But in a statement on behalf of the city selection board, Jonathan Freedman, the president, said Ianni could not be called back unless he was sentenced to prison for a felony conviction. In an interview, he said the board would not take a position on whether it should resign.
Even some elected officials who did not enter the Capitol on January 6 are facing anger at their participation in the events of that day. Justin Hill, a Missouri state legislator, said he traveled to Washington to hear Trump speak and meet with Representative Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, about rejecting the results of the Electoral College. In the process, Mr. Hill had skipped his own oath ceremony.
He said he was frustrated that the media gave the impression that he was “in turmoil” – when, he said, he only attended the ex-president’s speech. “It has been absurd,” he said.
Hill, a Republican, also noted that some protesters marched from President Trump’s rally to the Capitol, but did not enter the building. “It is your right to petition the government,” he said. “It is their right to march on the Capitol. I think those who have broken the law need to pay the price for their wrong decisions. ”
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which supports Democratic candidates for state legislatures across the country, asked for his resignation – along with that of at least 16 other state or elected Republican legislators, including Amanda Chase of Virginia, a state senator who is also running for governor.
Ms. Chase was recently censored by the Virginia Senate, in part for comments she made about those who invaded the Capitol.
“They were not rioters and looters,” she said in the state senate plenary earlier this month. “These were patriots who love their country and do not want to see our great Republic become a socialist country.”
Among other provisions, the Senate resolution noted that Ms. Chase expressed support for the protesters, “propagating baseless allegations about the nature of the events, the identities of the participants and the validity of the presidential election”. In a statement, Republican leaders in the Virginia Senate blamed their “selfishness and constant need for media attention”. She was also removed from her only mission on the committee since the Capitol rebellion.
But Chase, who spoke at a Capitol rally on the morning of January 6, seemed to regard the criticism as a sign of pride.
“They are not going to gag me,” she said in an interview. “I will use it as a badge of honor, I will raise a lot of money and I will eliminate the Democratic candidate who wins the nomination, and I will be the next governor of Virginia.”
In a blog post, Annie Black, an elected Nevada state legislator who met at the Capitol on January 6, but said she never entered the building or went beyond the barricades, asked for her “NUTS!” “I’m not going anywhere,” she said.
Still others found support among their elected colleagues and constituents with similar ideas.
Susan Soloway, Commissioner for Hunterdon County, NJ, posted a smiling selfie in front of the Capitol on January 6. A stream of constituents called for a recent commission meeting to complain about its participation – but it also attracted some supporters, including its fellow commissioners, one of whom condemned the criticism as “canceling culture”.
“We must all come together as Americans, united in the idea that we can have differences of opinion, but at the end of the day, we will still be friends and neighbors,” said Soloway, who is director of the council, during the meeting. “We are going to reduce hatred and division and try to find ways to get along instead.