Mother of Brian Sicknick asking to meet GOP senators before Jan. 6 vote

The mother of a Capitol Police officer who died as a result of the Jan. 6 insurrection is asking to meet with Republican senators ahead of a vote on whether to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the incident.

According to a scheduling request sent to Politico, Brian Sicknick’s mother Gladys Sicknick is asking every Senate GOP office for a meeting on Thursday to establish “the importance” of the commission.

Only 35 House Republicans backed the House bill to form a commission, and GOP leaders in the Senate have come out in opposition. Ten Republicans need to vote for the bill for the legislation to overcome a filibuster.

Gladys Sicknick told Politico in a statement that not having a commission is “a slap in the faces of all the officers who did their jobs that day.”

“I suggest that all Congressmen and Senators who are against this Bill visit my son’s grave in Arlington National Cemetery and, while there, think about what their hurtful decisions will do to those officers who will be there for them going forward,” she said. “Putting politics aside, wouldn’t they want to know the truth of what happened on January 6? If not, they do not deserve to have the jobs they were elected to do.”

Sicknick died the day after a mob of former President Trump’s supporters overwhelmed Capitol Police in an attack on the Capitol that interrupted Congress’s counting of the Electoral College result for the presidential election. Sicknick was among the officers at the Capitol and said he had been attacked with pepper spray.

The D.C. chief medical examiner’s office revealed in mid-April that Brian Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes the day after the attack.

Two other Capitol Police officers died from suicides after the attack.

The family of one of those officers, Howie Liebengood, issued a statement last week urging Congress to support the passage of the commission.

Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have said they would support the House bill to form a commission. Both voted to convict former President Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot in his impeachment trial. 

More than 400 people have been charged in connection with the riots. According to the Department of Justice, about 140 police officers were assaulted during the attacks, including about 80 Capitol Police officers and 60 from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.