'Recipe for failure': Republicans begin 'race' to see who can pass Trump bill first
Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger previously sat on the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. He returned on Tuesday, the fifth anniversary of the attack, as a witness to answer questions about Jan. 6.
He was asked by one Democratic member why he bucked the trend among GOP colleagues at the time and wanted to serve on the Jan. 6 committee.
"It's just simply my oath," Kinzinger said. "I mean, what shocks me is that there were more people that didn't. I said this, and I mean it; nothing I did was heroic. But I was just surrounded by a bunch of cowards that were too scared to do it. I mean, this is like, this is the most basic thing. How do you defend your country? You have been as a member of the house, God has chosen — they have picked you to represent 700,000 people. What an honor that is. And you're going to sit there and say my career is more important in this moment with 700,000 people?"
He went on to note a bracelet he wears with the name of a friend from the military who died in combat. Kinzinger asked how he could ask other Americans to fight and die while he's too afraid to give up his career for the exact cause.
"I'm a Christian. I have no reason to doubt the speaker is a Christian," he said of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) "What I have a hard time seeing is how we can lie to 300 million people and say that's in line with our faith. I'm not walking in his shoes."
He argued that putting up the plaque that commemorates the officers isn't a difficult political problem for Johnson. The speaker doesn't have to address the 2020 election. It's merely honoring the police "who did a good job protecting the Capitol that day."
"So, why [can't] the speaker do it? I — he's scared of people saying, oh my gosh, you put up a plaque. That's why I say double the size of it when you guys put it up," he added.
Kinzinger gave a motivational commentary, telling those who are fighting for the Constitution, "It will get better in a year and again in three years."