Water bottles, clothes, Trump flags and even a U.S. flag filled the floor inside the U.S. Capitol after a crowd that supported President Donald Trump looted the building.
New Jersey deputy Andy Kim walked through the confusion shortly after voting to certify Joe Biden’s victory over Trump – and felt the weight of the day weighing on him – when something motivated him to clear the rubble.
“I was really affected emotionally. I felt that kind of intensified and overwhelmed patriotism that I just felt that took over, ”he said in an interview.
It was then that he noticed cops putting pizza boxes in trash bags, so he ordered one too and started cleaning.
“When you see something you love that is broken, you want to fix it. I love the Capitol. I am honored to be there, ”he said. “This building is extraordinary and the roundabout in particular is simply inspiring. How many countless generations have been inspired in that room?
“It really broke my heart and I felt compelled to do something. … What else could I do? “
The image of Kim crouched cleaning the trash ends a violent historic day that saw an angry crowd break police lines, break windows and open doors as they surrounded the building, not long after Trump said at a rally that they should show “strength” And it fights against Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory.
Kim, a second-term Democrat from a district that Trump won twice, was not looking for publicity, according to a colleague who found him and did not recognize him at first.
“I think it was one in the morning,” said New Jersey Democratic MP Tom Malinowski. “There was a couple from the National Guard and I noticed someone leaning on his hands and knees, leaning under a bench to pick up something and it was Andy alone, just silently removing the rubble and putting it in a plastic bag. He was clearly not doing this for an audience.
“It was the most moving moment of the long night for me.”
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Kim “represents the best of New Jersey and our nation”.
Tom MacArthur, the former New Jersey Republican Party representative that Kim defeated in a close contest in 2018, was excited by the action of his successor. It was MacArthur who helped lead the Republican Party’s effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act through the House and who stood by Trump and others in the White House to celebrate, although the effort failed. Kim competed in part for the popularity of signing Barack Obama’s health bill.
Kim represents the third district, which stretches from the Philadelphia suburbs along the Delaware River in the west, through the New Jersey pines to the coastal Ocean County.
He launched his campaign in 2017, returning to live in the southern city of New Jersey, where he grew up after a career in Washington and abroad.
A graduate of the University of Chicago and a Rhodes fellow, Kim served from 2013 to 2015 as director of Iraq for the Obama administration’s National Security Council.
Prior to that, he was Iraq’s director at the Pentagon inside the defense secretary’s office. He also previously served as a civil adviser to Generals David Petraeus and John Allen in Afghanistan.
The son of Korean immigrant parents, he became the first Asian-American to represent New Jersey in Congress after being elected in 2018.
On Thursday, he reflected on how he, a person of color, was cleaning up people who waved white supremacy symbols, such as the Confederacy flag, during combat. He said he had not considered running at the time.
But he thought for a moment and added: “It’s so difficult because we don’t look at each other and see ourselves as Americans first, whether it’s race or ethnicity or religion or political party that’s keeping us from being able to have that shared identity that forged our country and is necessary for us to continue. “