Ahead of New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s vote on Tuesday calling on Vice President Mike Pence to activate the 25th Amendment, the Democratic claimed she witnessed lawmakers giving “reconnaissance” tours just a day before last week’s attack on Capitol Hill that left five people dead.
Speaking in a Facebook Live video, Sherrill detailed her account of what occurred on Jan 6., starting with the House’s vote to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win. She vividly described Nancy Pelosi being evacuated from the House chamber, getting gas masks ready as glass shattered and pro-Trump riots attempted to disrupt the proceedings.
As Sherrill and her colleagues were moving to a secured location, she said they were concerned for their safety.
“I was told later that members of that mob had zip ties, were wearing body armor and were looking to take prisoners…members of Congress,” the 48-year-old congresswoman said.
Vowing to not only impeach the president and making sure he never runs for office again or receives access to classified materials, Sherrill said she also intends to take action against members of congress who she saw taking groups through the Capitol on Jan. 5. She described it as “a reconnaissance for the next day.”
The congresswoman didn’t name any colleagues who were allegedly involved.
“Those members of congress who incited this violent crowd, those members of congress that attempted to help our president undermine our democracy. I am going to see that they are held accountable and if necessary ensure they don’t serve in congress,” she said.
Separately, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday said she felt unsafe with some of her colleagues while congressmembers were being extracted away from the chaos inside the U.S. Capitol. The Democrat said she thought they might share her location with violent rioters and put her at risk to be kidnapped or hurt.
“I myself did not even feel safe going to that extraction point because there were QAnons and white supremacists sympathizer and frankly white supremacist members of Congress in that extraction point who I know and who I had felt would disclose my location,” she said in an Instagram live video.
Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday also called on those members of congress to resign.
Both congresswomen were among those in the U.S. House who voted Tuesday to approve a resolution urging Pence to remove Trump with a Cabinet vote, although the vice president had already said he would not do so.
With Pence’s agreement ruled out, the House will move swiftly to impeachment on Wednesday.
