Rep. Andy Kim said Tuesday that he donated to the Smithsonian Institution the blue suit the New Jersey Democrat wore as he cleaned up the U. …
Rep. Andy Kim said Tuesday that he donated to the Smithsonian Institution the blue suit the New Jersey Democrat wore as he cleaned up the U.S. Capitol building after it was ransacked by rioters on Jan.6 protesting President Trump’s election loss. Mr. Kim said in a series of messages on social media that the Smithsonian asked for and has now acquired the suit he can be seen wearing in viral images that captured him cleaning up debris strewn on the floor of the Capitol just hours after the rioters were cleared from the building. “While some try to erase history, I will fight to tell the story so it never happens again,” Mr. Kim said in the first of some 17 postings on the platform Twitter detailing his donation. The Smithsonian has confirmed it acquired the suit. Mr. Kim, a second-term congressman and one of the first of Korean descent, was photographed wearing the suit as he collected trash on the floor of the Capitol. Images showing the lawmakers on his hands and knees gathering trash beneath the building’s storied Rotunda subsequently went viral and resulted in him receiving national attention well beyond the Garden State. Describing the “unremarkable” suit in the series of Twitter posts, Mr. Kim said he bought it from JCrew during a holiday sale with the plan of wearing it for the inauguration of President Biden on Jan.20. Mr. Kim said he decided to wear the suit two weeks earlier than he originally anticipated to mark the planned congressional certification of Mr.
