![Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson invokes KKK, slavery during Jan. 6 hearing opening statement [Twitter Screenshot Daily Caller]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-09-at-9.00.14-PM-e1654823052774.png "Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson invokes KKK, slavery during Jan. 6 hearing opening statement [Twitter Screenshot Daily Caller]")
It took just minutes for Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson to invoke the Ku Klux Klan, slavery and lynching during Thursday’s opening statements of the Jan. 6 hearings.
Committee chairman Thompson delivered the opening statement of the hearings investigating the Jan. 6 riot.
“I am from a part of the country where people justified the actions of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan and lynching,” Thompson said. “I’m reminded of that dark history as I hear voices today try and justify the actions of the insurrectionists on January 6th, 2021.”
“All of us have one thing in common: we swore the same oath,” Thompson continued. “The same oath that all Members of Congress take upon taking office and afterward every two years if they are reelected. We swore an oath to defend the Constitution, against all enemies: foreign and domestic.”
“The words of the current oath taken by all of us — that nearly every United States Government employee takes — have their roots in the Civil War,” he said.
It took Benny Thompson just minutes to start invoking “slavery, the klu klux klan and lynching” during his opening of the Jan. 6th Committee Hearing pic.twitter.com/cTPZMoOvI9
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 10, 2022
Thompson noted how the 1814 burning of the Capitol was due to foreign enemies, but then explained that after the South seceded from the Union, “Congress adopted a new oath to help make sure no person who had supported the rebellion could hold a position of public trust. Therefore, congresspersons and U.S. Federal Government employees were required for the first time to swear an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies — foreign and domestic.”
“That oath was put to the test on January 6, 2021.” (RELATED: BANKS, JORDAN, NEHLS, ARMSTRONG, And DAVIS: Don’t Fall For Nancy Pelosi’s Elaborate January 6th Coverup)
The committee has subpoenaed more than 100 individuals, interviewed nearly 1,000 witnesses and has roughly 100,000 pages of evidence.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi barred Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana from serving on the committee. Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger were permitted to serve on the committee.
The committee told Politico they want viewers to be outraged about the incident going into 2024. The committee reportedly said they hope its presentation will stoke the same anger Americans felt on Jan. 6 now and convince them that the issue has only become worse and still threatens the 2024 election.
