Statement from chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - Wyoming Republican Party Chairman Frank Eathorne attended peaceful protests at the US Capitol on January 6th.

Eathorne released this statement about the events and where he was during them: “I attended the organized and peaceful rally near the White House on January 6th. The lawn between the White House and the Washington Monument is a very large area and held an unknown number of peaceful demonstrators who came to listen to speakers including Rudy Giuliani and President Trump. \

No violence or property damage was observed during my time there including a brief stop in the vicinity of the Capitol building property.

I retired from the public gathering near mid-afternoon and watched the news of some reported events I personally had not witnessed.

The President’s statement tonight urging peace and love is the right course of action.”

On Wednesday January 6th, Pro-Trump supporters broke into the US Capitol building looking for lawmakers.

Where are they?” a Trump supporter demanded in a crowd of dozens roaming the halls of the Capitol, bearing Trump flags and pounding on doors.

They — lawmakers, staff members and more — were hiding under tables, hunkered in lockdowns, saying prayers and seeing the fruits of the country’s divisions up close and violent.

Guns were drawn. A woman was shot and killed by police, and three others died in apparent medical emergencies. A Trump flag hung on the Capitol. The graceful Rotunda reeked of tear gas. Glass shattered.

On Wednesday, hallowed spaces of American democracy, one after another, yielded to the occupation of Congress.

The pro-Trump mob took over the presiding officer’s chair in the Senate, the offices of the House speaker and the Senate dais, where one yelled, “Trump won that election.”

They mocked its leaders, posing for photos in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one with his feet propped on a desk in her office, another sitting in the same seat Vice President Mike Pence had occupied only moments before during the proceedings to certify the Electoral College vote.

This began as a day of reckoning for President Donald Trump’s futile attempt to cling to power as Congress took up the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. It devolved into scenes of fear and agony that left a prime ritual of American democracy in tatters.

Trump told his morning crowd at the Ellipse that he would go with them to the Capitol, but he didn’t. Instead he sent them off with incendiary rhetoric.

“If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” he said. “Let the weak ones get out,” he went on. “This is a time for strength.”

His lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told the crowd, “Let’s have trial by combat.”

“What happened Wednesday was nothing less than an attempted coup,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., a frequent Trump critic, said, “Today, the United States Capitol — the world’s greatest symbol of self-government — was ransacked while the leader of the free world cowered behind his keyboard.”

Police said they recovered two pipe bombs, one outside the Democratic National Committee and one outside the Republican National Committee and a cooler from a vehicle that had a long gun and Molotov cocktail on Capitol grounds.

Five people were killed, including one police officer, dozens of people have been arrested and charged with crimes.

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