Chaffetz says Capitol Hill rioters must be prosecuted, calls out media double standard
'I wanna see those people in jail with maximum sentences,' former GOP congressman says
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jason Chaffetz called for the protesters who stormed Capitol Hill to be arrested and prosecuted to prove that actions have consequences, but the former Republican congressman pointed out that violent anti-police demonstrators weren’t always held accountable.
Chaffetz, who was the chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Committee when he served as a representative from Utah, said that anyone who breaks the law needs to be held accountable.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"You need to be arrested and then you need to be prosecuted, you need to be in jail. People need to know there’s a consequence to this," Chaffetz told Harris Faulkner on "Outnumbered Overtime."
Violence erupted on Wednesday following a speech by President Trump as lawmakers were in the process of certifying the Electoral College votes won by President-elect Joe Biden. Washington, D.C., police said the unrest left four dead and 52 arrested.
The Federal Bureau Investigation is seeking information to identify the pro-Trump protesters who stormed the Capitol. But Chaffetz noted that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris helped raise bail money for, and help free, sometimes-violent demonstrators earlier this year amid nationwide unrest over police brutality.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}PROTESTERS DESCEND ON NATION'S STATE CAPITALS AS CHAOS UNFOLDS IN DC
Harris famously promoted the bail fund group that several Biden staffers donated to during the protests that followed the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died on May 25 while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
The fund group has posted bail for multiple alleged violent criminals, including an alleged murderer and a previously convicted rapist.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There are consequences to those types of actions and the media did not report it," Chaffetz said. "That’s not excuse for what happened at the Capitol, that was one of the most shameful, unpatriotic days that there is, I mean, it is a patriotic thing to protest, and I think that’s what most people were doing, but when you step over the line, and attack a police officer, when you’re smashing windows, when you’re going on the floor of the Senate, that’s as un-American as it gets.
"I wanna see those people in jail with maximum sentences, but I want them to do the same thing for those people who were attacking the Federal courthouse for more than a month in Portland, Oregon. How come those people aren’t prosecuted?"
Chaffetz was referring to Portland’s Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, which was the site of chaos last summer when rioters clashed with police offers on a nightly basis during violent protests.
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"Whether you’re a member of Congress or a Capitol Hill policeman… there is a lot of people that were hurt physically, but also mentally, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s just not who we are as a country," Chaffetz said.
"It was a very shameful day."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News’ Stephanie Giang-Paunon and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.