Partner of fallen Capitol Police officer says Trump ‘needs to be in prison’ for Jan. 6

The longtime partner of late Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick says former President Trump “needs to be in prison” for his contribution to the events that took place on Jan. 6.

Asked by “PBS NewsHour’s” Judy Woodruff ahead of the anniversary of last January’s riot how Trump should be held accountable, Sandra Garza said he should face incarceration, but noted the unlikelihood of that occurring.

“Personally, for me, I think he needs to be in prison. That is what I think,” Garza said.

“But Donald Trump has been playing these legal wrangling games for decades. He knows how to skirt the system. He knows how to — he’s a very litigious person himself. And then, when he’s been sued, he knows how to play these games to get around things and avoid jail and prison time,” she added.

Garza added that it nevertheless would be “satisfying” to see Trump behind bars.

The U.S. is days away from recognizing the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, where Sicknick was working. He died one day later.

The D.C. chief medical examiner determined in April that Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes. He was sprayed with chemical irritants at the riot, though an autopsy did not find evidence that he suffered an allergic reaction to them.

Several other officers who were present during the insurrection died by suicide in the days and weeks afterwards.

Garza told Woodruff that she holds Trump “100 percent responsible” for what occurred on Jan. 6. She also placed blame on “all of the people that have enabled him, enabled him that day, and continue to enable him now.”

She said she does not regret voting for Trump, but called the former president’s actions a year ago “unforgivable.”

Garza also said that Trump has never contacted her regarding Sicknick’s death.

Garza has been a vocal critic of Trump and the Republican Party in the months since the riot. In June, she said the GOP did not want to support a 9/11-style commission to investigate the events of Jan. 6 in an effort to protect Trump.

“They don’t want a full commission because they know it would expose Donald Trump for inciting a riot that day,” she added.

In an op-ed published in CNN that month, Garza accused Republican members of Congress of denying the “monstrous acts committed by violent protestors” on Jan. 6.