Chuck Grassley. (RI file photo)
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says if there are demonstrations today related to the anticipated arrest of former President Donald Trump, he hopes things don’t get out of hand like during the U.S. Capitol riots on January 6th of 2021.
“We want peaceful protests by anybody that wants to use their freedom of association and freedom of speech to say whatever they want to,” Grassley says. “It’s all protected by the Constitution and violence is never acceptable.” The former president has called on his supporters to protest if he’s indicted on charges related to alleged hush money payments to an adult film actress in 2016.
Video is being released by the U.S. Department of Justice that reportedly shows Grassley being evacuated from the Capitol on January 6th as shouting demonstrators were just a matter of feet away.
“I didn’t know anything about it at the time and so it’s quite an education to me to find out that we were that close,” Grassley says. “I still remember when the police said, ‘We got to get you out of here.’ They knew something I didn’t know.” Justice officials say the video was shot by one of the rioters and it shows Grassley, surrounded by uniformed police officers, as he was rushed through the
Capitol building and away to safety. “So I was quite surprised, yes, I was,” Grassley says, “but I’m glad that everything was was handled correctly for me and my colleagues.” At the time of the riot, Grassley was serving as president pro tem of the Senate, which placed him third in the line of succession to the presidency.