Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt said Wednesday that the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is a “profoundly more dangerous” event for the future of the U.S. and is likely to cause more deaths than the 9/11 terrorist attacks, footage showed.
“The 1/6 [Jan.6] attack for the future of the country is a profoundly more dangerous event than the 9/11 attacks. And in the end, the 1/6 attacks are likely to kill a lot more Americans than were killed in the 9/11 attacks which will include the casualties of the wars that lasted twenty years following it,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt made the comments at the Lincoln Project’s virtual July 7 town hall to discuss the organization’s mission to “defend democracy in 2022” and how voters can contribute, according to their site.
The Lincoln Project co-founder’s remarks followed MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd’s Wednesday remarks that the Capitol riot is “worse than 9/11” because it has divided America.
“To me, though there was less loss of life on Jan. 6-Jan.6 was worse than 9/11 because it’s continued to rip our country apart and give permission for people to pursue autocratic means,” Dowd told MSNBC’s Joy Reid.
Five people died in relation to the Capitol riot. Three suffered health emergencies, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who had a stroke. Two others — Rosanne Boyland, crushed to death and Ashli Babbitt, shot and killed by Capitol Police — died as a result of trauma sustained during the riot.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to halt Congress from the Electoral College certification.
The 9/11 terror attack killed 2,977 people, according to the FBI. Members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda crashed three planes — two into New York City’s World Trade Center and one into the west side of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.
The U.S. military launched attacks against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks, The New York Times reported. The U.S. entered war against Iraq in March 2003 in an attempt to destroy the dictatorial leadership of Saddam Hussein which resulted in 4,700 U.S, and allied troop deaths, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) reported.
Brown University’s “Cost of War Project” reported that there are nearly 507,000 casualties between the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, according to a 2018 report. The Department of Defense recorded that Operation Enduring Freedom, stationed in Afghanistan, resulted in a total of 2,218 deaths between October 7, 2001-December 31, 2014 in a July 5, 2021 report.
The Lincoln Project’s co-founder alleged that the U.S. is “on the edge” of another period of political violence. (RELATED: Steve Schmidt Says ‘No Forgiveness’ For Republicans Who Supported Election Challenges: ‘Their Shame Will Last Forever’)
“We have had periods of political violence in this country and I believe we’re on the edge of another one, tragically. We have to fight back against it at the ballot box,” he said.
Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson and Republican New York Rep. John Katko, two top lawmakers in the House Homeland Security Committee, reached an agreement on a 9/11 style commission intended to investigate the Jan. 6 riot in May. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at a Feb. 16 press conference that President Joe Biden would support the commission.