Video shows rioters calling Capitol Police ‘traitors’

House Democratic impeachment managers used video showing rioters calling Capitol Police officers “traitors” during the Jan. 6 riot as they moved toward the conclusion of their arguments.

House impeachment manager David Cicilline (D-R.I.), while addressing the Senate, said  officers responding to the rioting were not only physically injured during the chaos, but were also “verbally denigrated,” for “their patriotism,” and rioters “questioned their loyalty and yelled racial slurs.” 

“They called them traitors, Nazis, un-American for protecting us,” Cicilline told senators Thursday. 

Cicilline then showed a series of videos taken both within and outside the Capitol on the day of the mob attack, including one in which a man followed an officer and shouted, “Are you an American? Act like you f—ing are,” before shoving another officer. 

In a subsequent video posted on social media, Trump supporters shouted at officers gathered in front of metal barriers, “F—ing traitors, you’re a f—ing traitor,” before one rioter attempted to pull away one of the barriers. 

In another video, a woman told officers, “you can’t even call yourselves American, you broke your f—ing oath today.” 

Instead of respecting Capitol Police on Jan. 6, “Trump’s mob verbally denigrated their patriotism, questioned their loyalty, and yelled racial slurs,” Rep. Cicilline said. “They called them ‘traitors,’ ‘nazis,’ ‘un-American,’ for protecting us.” pic.twitter.com/SzmuuMmhD4

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) February 11, 2021

House impeachment manager Rep. Cicilline on how rioters treated law enforcement: “Trump’s mob verbally denigrated their patriotism, questioned their loyalty, and yelled racial slurs. They called them traitors, Nazis, un-American.” https://t.co/F8p7pEn9H3 pic.twitter.com/jWHtHwE4lV

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 11, 2021

The videos were among the examples provided by House managers to show how law enforcement officers were both physically and verbally attacked by rioters as they overtook the Capitol.

Several video and audio recordings indicated that many of Trump’s supporters believed they were following orders from the president to raid the historic building as Congress met to certify President Biden’s win.

After airing the footage, Ciclline said, “You have to wonder, who are these rioters sworn to? To whom do they believe the police owe their loyalty? To the people? To the Constitution? Or to Donald Trump?”

More than 140 officers in the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police forces were injured during the mob attack, some with severe physical trauma like cracked ribs, smashed spinal discs and brain injuries. One officer is expected to lose an eye, while another was stabbed with a metal fence stake.

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died after being hit by a fire extinguisher during the rioting, and two additional officers who responded to the attack have since died by suicide.