Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner invoked the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot into a discussion about 9/11 on “Face the Nation” Sunday.
Warner, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, made the remarks in response to CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan’s question about where the country is 21 years after the terror attacks.
“I remember, as most Americans do, where they were on 9/11,” he said. “I was in the middle of a political campaign and suddenly the differences with my opponent seemed very small in comparison, and our country came together and in many ways, we defeated the terrorists due to the resilience of the American public, because of our intelligence community, and we are safer, better prepared. The stunning thing to me is here we are 20 years later and the attack on the symbol of our democracy is not coming from terrorists, but it came from literally insurgents attacking the Capitol on January 6.”
“So I believe we are stronger, I believe our intelligence community has performed remarkably, I think the threat of terror has diminished, I think we still have new challenges in terms of nation [and] state challenges,” he continued. “Russia and longer term, a technology competition with China, but I do worry about some of the activity in this country where the election deniers, the insurgency that took place on January 6, that’s something I hope we can see that same kind of unity of spirit.”
Some Democrats have compared January 6 to the 2001 attacks on New York City and greater Washington, D.C., including Vice President Kamala Harris, who compared the riot to the attack on Pearl Harbor and 9/11. The Pearl Harbor attack and 9/11 both sparked overseas wars and led to the deaths of thousands of Americans. (RELATED: Tucker Confront Ted Cruz Over Calling Capitol Rioters ‘Terrorists’)
“Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were, and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault,” Harris said Jan. 6, 2022. “Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory. December 7, 1941, September 11th, 2001 and January 6th, 2021.”
Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt claimed in a leaked video from July, 2021 that the January 6 riot is more deadly and “profoundly more dangerous” to the future of the U.S. than 9/11.
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. 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.
Ashli Babbitt, a protester, was shot and killed by a Capitol police officer at the Jan. 6 riot after she tried to enter the U.S. House Chamber. Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick died the following day after suffering two strokes. Four more officers present at the riot died after the riot from suicide.
