A cowardly old lion

Created
Sat, 11/03/2023 - 09:00
Updated
Sat, 11/03/2023 - 09:00
Senator Jim Risch, R-Id. MSNBC reports: Two years ago, a mob of rioters who believed former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election viciously assaulted police, smashed out windows, stormed into an office, flipped over a giant conference table and barricaded themselves inside the U.S. Capitol, readying themselves for a fight with police inside a suite of “hideaway” offices for senators. One of the offices, federal prosecutors recently disclosed, belonged to Republican Jim Risch, the 79-year-old junior senator from Idaho, where Trump is tremendously popular. Video shows a rioter — who has pleaded guilty to driving a stun gun into a police officer’s neck, nearly killing him — smashing out Risch’s window overlooking the Washington Monument and the national mall in an attempt to let more rioters into the building. Additional video released this week shows Risch’s trashed desk, including what looks like a framed campaign image bearing his last name. A review of Risch’s public statements on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot show no indication that he has ever mentioned what happened to his office that day. Asked this week about his office’s being trashed and told about the new video of rioters in his hideaway, Risch demurred. “I don’t do interviews on Jan. 6, but thanks,” Risch said. Asked again whether he had a response to the newly released video, the senator said only: “Thanks for asking.” His office didn’t respond to follow-up emails seeking comment on his hideaway office being raided by pro-Trump rioters. On the evening of Jan.…