Rep. Jamie Raskin’s (D-MD) daughter and son-in-law barricaded themselves in an office as insurrectionists overtook the Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
It was just a day after the family buried Raskin’s middle child, the top House impeachment manager said Tuesday while speaking form the Senate floor, recalling his own experience of the violent day around which former President Trump’s impeachment revolves.
Raskin’s son, Tommy, took his own life a few days prior to the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory, the event targeted by Donald Trump for an angry speech that resulted in his supporters storming the Capitol.
The Raskins buried Tommy on Jan. 5, the day before the Trump event, and on the day of the attack itself, Raskin’s youngest daughter Tabitha and son-in-law Hank accompanied him to work “because they wanted to be together with me in the middle of a devastating week for our family,” Raskin said.
The congressman said his daughter and son-in-law (who’s married to his eldest daughter, Hannah) noted that they’d seen Trump calling on his followers to descend on Washington, and wondered whether it would be safe.
“Of course it should be safe, this is the Capitol,” the congressman recalled responding.
"Of course it should be safe, this is the Capitol," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) recalled telling his daughter and son-in-law of the Jan. 6 electoral certification, which took place the day after he buried his middle son. pic.twitter.com/HGqxyKcqkb
— Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) February 9, 2021
Of course, it wasn’t. Raskin recalled how, while he was ushered away from the House chamber with other lawmakers, his daughter and son-in-law were barricaded with Raskin’s chief of staff in House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD) office.
Raskin recalled what his daughter said to him after the danger had passed: “Dad I don’t want to come back to the Capitol.”
“Senators, this cannot be our future,” Raskin said, after describing the mob violence that occurred that day.
