Source: Route Fifty
A West Virginia lawmaker live-streamed himself entering the U.S. Capitol Building during a violent riot on Wednesday that temporarily halted the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
Incoming state Del. Derrick Evans, a Republican,Ā entered the CapitolĀ shouting āWeāre in! Weāre in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!ā Evans was part of a mob that later walked around the Capitol Rotunda, milling about with little police presence. On Friday,Ā federal prosecutorsĀ announced that Evans had been charged with entering a restricted area
Evans was not the only state lawmaker in attendance at the events in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. Lawmakers from at least nine states traveled to the nationās capital to attend demonstrations against the certification of election results, egged on by President Donald Trump, who in the morning gave a speech in which he said he would ānever concede.ā
Those who came to D.C. include Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem, incoming Nevada state Assemblywoman Annie Black, Tennessee state Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, Virginia state Sen. Amanda Chase, Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, Alaska state Rep. David Eastman, Michigan state Rep. Matt Maddock, and Missouri state Rep. Justin Hill.
Their accounts of their level of participation in Wednesdayās event varied. Eastman and Hill said they came to D.C. but didnāt participate in the demonstrations. Black said she marched from the White House to the Capitol but retreated from the crowd when people began charging the security barrier around the building. Weaver toldĀ The TennesseanĀ she was āin the thick of itā but wouldnāt specify if she had entered the Capitol on what she called an āepic and historic day.ā
At least two of the state lawmakers were involved in organizing busloads of people from their state to attend the events on Wednesday.
Mastriano organized a bus for people from Pennsylvania, then said he left the Capitol to avoid getting ācaught in any violence.ā Maddock did the same for people from Michigan and spoke at a rally with his wife, another conservative activist, on Tuesday, butĀ saidĀ he was in a hotel room when the violence unfolded the next day.
In the aftermath of the Capitol siege,Ā state and local leaders from across the countryĀ condemned what several called a failed ācoup attempt.ā
Now, some are calling for lawmakers who participated in the demonstrations to step down. Jessica Post, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a national group that helps elect Democrats to statehouses, said that āany Republican legislator who took part in yesterdayās insurrection, in Washington, D.C., or anywhere else in the country, should resign immediately.ā
āYesterday was a stain on our countryās history and a dangerous affront to democracyāall those involved have no place making laws,ā Post said.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats say Mastriano should resign, and if that doesnāt happen, he should be stripped of leadership and committee assignments.
In Virginia, where Chase is a Republican contender for governor this year, the state Democratic Senate Caucus saidĀ she should resignĀ for āhorrifyingly empowering a failed coup dāĆ©tatā and āgalvaniz[ing] domestic terrorists.ā After the events on Wednesday, ChaseĀ wrote on FacebookĀ that āthese were not rioters and looters; these were Patriots who love their country.ā
In Michigan, Maddockās wife, Meshawnāwho organized the bus rides with himāis set to become the next co-chair of the state Republican Party;Ā some Republican leadersĀ in the state are calling on her to withdraw her candidacy.
No one is facing more pressure to resign than Evans in West Virginia. As of Friday afternoon, more than 55,000 people haveĀ signed a petitionĀ asking for him to be removed from the state House of Delegates for āleading and participating in terrorism.”
Before Evans was charged, his lawyer said he had no plans to resign but that he “deeply regrets that (violent) actions occurred.ā
Democratic leadership in the stateĀ said that Evanās involvementĀ in Wednesdayās events is too glaring to ignore. House of Delegates Minority Leader Doug Skaff, Jr. said that Evans ānot only participated in this violent, intentional disruption of government; he helped lead a group that he organized to travel to Washington, D.C. to cause this chaos.ā
Paired with Evansā history ofĀ stalking and threateningĀ people, Skaff said his behavior is ācause for alarm and a real safety concern for all those who work at our State Capitol Complex.ā
The West Virginia Democratic Party went one step further, saying that Evans āmust be held accountable for participating in an act of insurrectionā and should be āprosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.ā
Emma Coleman is the assistant editor forĀ Route Fifty.
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