Congressman Lee Zeldin, whose district includes Shelter Island and who voted Wednesday against certifying Electoral College results following a siege at the Capitol that left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer, predicted four days earlier that January 6 would “haunt” those opposed to President Donald J. Trump.
On January 2, four days before Wednesday’s joint session of Congress, Zeldin posted this on Parler (but apparently not on his other social media platforms): “Some insist everything President Trump and his supporters claim about the 2020 election is ‘evidence-free’. That lie may be easy to rattle off, but it’s still a massive, destructive lie that will haunt them on Jan 6th and far into the future.”
Zeldin waited until Wednesday morning to announce his intention to formally object to certifying results from certain states. After debate resumed following the invasion of the Capitol building by Trump supporters, the Electoral College votes were certified by an overwhelming majority. The certification was an important step in advance of the January 20th swearing-in of President-elect Joseph R. Biden and his running mate, Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris.
It was announced Thursday that Officer Brian D. Sicknick had died of injuries sustained in the melee. According to published reports, a rioter struck him with a fire extinguisher and he died after being hospitalized. He is only the fourth member of the force to be killed in the line of duty. One woman shot by Capitol Police died Wednesday, and three other people reportedly died on the scene apparently of emergency medical events.
Trump stoked the hourslong insurrection first during a rally near the White House and then in remarks on Twitter and Facebook throughout the afternoon until his social media accounts were suspended.
What did Zeldin say?
During the melee, Zeldin posted twice on Twitter — first to say: “There must be ZERO tolerance for violence in any form! Please listen to our great Capitol Police who need to get control immediately”; and then to say: “This should never be the scene at the Capitol. This isn’t the America we love. We can debate & disagree, even on Jan 6th after a Presidential election, but in our republic, we elect people to voice our objections in the Capitol on this day.”
Zeldin (R-Shirley), like other members of the House and Senate, returned to the debate after authorities cleared unauthorized people from the building. He became one of three New York representatives who joined the minority in an effort to sustain the objection of Arizona’s Electoral College votes. The other New Yorkers were Chris Jacobs of the 27th District (an area around Buffalo), and Nicole Malliotakis of the 11th District (all of Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn).
In his four-minute speech (you can watch the CSPAN-2 video he posted his Twitter feed under the heading “In defense of the republic”) he rehashed widely-debunked allegations of voter fraud that have been rejected by elected officials and/or judges in the respective states. Arizona certification was approved by the House 303 to 121, and by the Senate 91 to 6; and later the Pennsylvania results were approved by the House 282 to 138, and by the Senate 90 to 7.
What has he said since?
Since Wednesday, Zeldin has used his Twitter account only to criticize Simon & Schuster for its decision to not go ahead with the planned distribution of a book by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), one of just a few senators who voted against certifying the Electoral College votes.
“It is so dishonest for anyone to try to define Hawley’s purpose yesterday as being about ‘insurrection’, ‘treason’ or ‘sedition’,” he wrote on Thursday.
Later, in a message posted to followers of his RepLeeZeldin page on Facebook after returning home from Washington on Thursday, he predicted “a precarious future as a republic”.
“We live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. We have big challenges at the moment, real disagreement over important issues, and a precarious future as a republic,” he wrote, adding that about debate and disagreement “I am not going to dwell on any doubt, but to recommit to working towards a vigorous defense of lady liberty at all costs, and the pursuit of unity whenever possible.”
Zeldin described witnessing “the best of America clash with some of the worst of it in a moment of my life I will never forget.”
In a post on his LeeMZeldin Facebook page on Thursday evening, he said, “I’m very grateful for our amazing police officers for their selflessness and heroism, but I must also add that there are far too many questions still left as to what exactly went down.”
[Editor’s note: Rep. Zeldin’s office has not yet responded to our request for comment for this post.]
