«I heard the noise—the flash bangs, I smelled some of the gas as it moved my way,» the Michigan Republican pointed out.
Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, slammed the «absolutely bogus» claims some GOP colleagues have made about the pro-Trump attack targeting the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The majority of Republicans in Congress have aligned themselves with former President Donald Trump and his lies about the 2020 election. Meanwhile, some GOP lawmakers have downplayed the violent assault on the Capitol, with Representative Andrew Clyde, a Georgia Republican, saying the riot looked like a «normal tourist visit» last Wednesday. Upton was asked to respond to his colleagues’ efforts to rewrite history in a Sunday interview with CNN. «It’s absolutely bogus. You know, I was there. I watched a number of the folks walk down to the White House and then back. I have a balcony on my office. So I saw them go down. I heard the noise—the flash bangs, I smelled some of the gas as it moved my way,» the Michigan Republican explained. Upton was one of 10 House Republicans to vote with Democratic colleagues to impeach Trump for inciting the mob to attack the Capitol. The GOP congressman has aligned himself with Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, who also backed Trump’s impeachment and was ousted from her role as chair of the House Republican Conference last week due to her repeated condemnation of the former president.
