U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, representing Attleboro area, says Capitol resembled war zone
Walking back to the Capitol on Wednesday night, Jake Auchincloss looked over the grounds of the building after its lockdown earlier in the day and was struck by one lasting image.
“It looked like a patrol base in Afghanistan,” with police and National Guardsmen at the ready, the Marine Corps veteran said Thursday. “We had to turn a citadel of democracy into a fortress.”
The state’s newest member of Congress called the scene “grim.”
Auchincloss, 32, a Democrat, was in just his third day as the representative for the Fourth Congressional District, which includes The Sun Chronicle area.
He said there was one other “searing memory” from a day that saw the Capitol besieged by a mob of President Trump’s supporters: A fight that almost broke out on the floor of the House between two members of Congress during the heated debate over challenges to the slates of state electors from the presidential campaign won by Joe Biden.
“I hope that reflects the nadir of American democracy in my lifetime,” he said in phone interview with The Sun Chronicle.
Auchincloss said he never felt he was in physical danger during the siege of the Capitol, but that many others did. He added there will have to be an investigation of how the rioters were able to breach security at the building.
“There needs to be an after-action review to make sure it never happens again,” Auchincloss said.
Was this really what the Harvard graduate and former Newton city councilor expected when he ran to fill the seat formerly held by Congressman Joe Kennedy III?
“It’s exactly what I signed up for,” the Newton resident said. “On Sunday I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, and on Wednesday, I did.”
It hasn’t been an easy introduction, though.
Not only was his first task to withstand what some are calling an insurrection, his next may be to vote on the removal of a president.
Auchincloss has joined with nearly every other member of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation in saying that Trump — whom many blame for inciting the mob that attacked the Capitol — can no longer serve as chief executive.
While the House has adjourned until Jan. 19, Auchincloss and his staff are still in Washington.
“In the last 48 hours the dynamics have changed. We have the imperative to remove Trump. He’s a menace to our institutions,” he said.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are also calling for Trump’s removal. That could be by resignation, removal under the 25th Amendment — by either the Cabinet or Congress — “or he can be impeached,” Auchincloss said.
“I’m in favor of the most expeditious way of removing him,” preferably in a way that prevents him from running in 2024, the congressman said.
“This is not symbolic. This is about the health of our institutions as a country,” he said, though he added there’s little interest in re-litigating everything about the president’s first term.
“Everyone’s exhausted by the last four years,” he said.
Nevertheless, Auchincloss vowed, “We are going to secure this transfer of power” and then “focus on getting down to the work of governing. These depredations are derailing our federal government from taking on the real issues.”
That, the congressman said, should include being “laser-focused on vaccinating a million people a day” against the coronavirus pandemic.
Auchincloss said he’s willing to work with members on the other side of the aisle, although he said those Republican members of Congress that sought to block Biden’s electoral votes “put politics ahead of the Constitution (and) will have that stain on their reputation for the rest of their careers.”
And while Biden has called for unity across party lines, “bipartisanship is one tool and not the only way,” Auchincloss said.
Rebuilding institutions and getting back to the work of governing is what counts, he said.
“If they want to join in those efforts, they are welcome.”
Source:
Tom Riley