House

Capitol Police tribute turns political

by Scott Wong - 01/25/21 1:09 PM ET

A tribute for Capitol Police officers who battled a violent pro-Trump mob has been tabbed with political messages criticizing Republicans who backed challenges to Electoral College results.

Over the weekend, someone taped small strips of paper to tribute signs that GOP lawmakers have written honoring the officers who protected them during the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The strips of paper highlight the records of individual GOP lawmakers, pointing out that they had supported former President Trump’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory — the same cause that the thousands of rioters who attacked the Capitol had rallied behind.

Some of the pieces of paper state that these individual Republicans voted to object to the certification of the Electoral College votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania, or signed onto a legal brief backing Texas’s lawsuit seeking to invalidate election results in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.

In the case of Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), a strip of paper next to his police tribute says he supported all three.

Other GOP lawmakers whose tributes were targeted include: Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks (Ind.), GOP Policy Chairman Gary Palmer (Ala.), and Reps. Kat Cammack (Fla.), Ann Wagner (Mo.), Dan Crenshaw (Texas), Michael Burgess (Texas) and Kevin Brady (Texas).

No one has taken credit for the postings.

The House Democratic Caucus, led by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), said it was not responsible, according to a spokeswoman. But Democrats have slammed Trump and his congressional allies for pushing a false narrative that the election was stolen from Trump and for trying to block Congress’s certification on Jan. 6.

The police tribute, which contains handwritten messages from lawmakers and staffers, stretches along an underground tunnel connecting the Capitol with the Cannon House Office Building. It was created by the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, Rep. Rodney Davis (Ill.), and his team.

“It’s incredibly disappointing that someone would turn a wall honoring the heroes within the Capitol Police department into something political,” said Davis’s committee spokeswoman, Ashley Phelps.