On Thursday night, state Rep. Kyle Biedermann, known for backing Texas’ secession from the United States, denied that any such insurrection took place.
During a debate about the Texas GOP’s controversial voter restriction bill, Democratic state Rep. Erin Zwiener called for an amendment that would prevent anyone who participated in U.S. Capitol riots from becoming an election assistant, as reported by The Dallas Morning News.
Biedermann, a Republican from Fredericksburg, took the opportunity to challenge Zwiener’s description of the riot as an “insurrection.”
"The amendment is all about the insurrection that you are claiming on Jan. 6, yet you were not there. You don’t know what happened,” Biedermann said. “All you do is listen to the liberal media, is that correct? Where do you get your information?”
When Zwiener asked Biedermann whether he considered the riot an insurrection, he shot back, “Of course not.” (The amendment didn't pass.)
Biedermann, who once caught flak for dressing up as “Gay Hitler” on Halloween, was one of several Texas Republicans who attended former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 rally before the riot saw a mob storm the Capitol.The Capitol Insurrection this past January was a true attack on American democracy and those involved should NOT be allowed anywhere near our elections.
— Erin Zwiener (@ErinForYall) August 27, 2021
I filed this amendment for that exact reason. Disappointed that my colleagues did not support it. https://t.co/V4lKEVXJIr
The lawmaker was also filmed near the Capitol’s steps, standing among a crowd of Trump supporters chanting “traitors” at the lawmakers inside the building.
During a radio appearance the day after the riot, Biedermann claimed that only a “few radicals” had “caused the trouble” that day at the Capitol. He said he and others had “peacefully marched on our nation’s Capitol to make our voices heard.”
At time of publication, Biedermann hadn't replied to the Observer’s request for comment.
A day before Biedermann’s spat in the Texas Legislature, a congressional committee to investigate the Capitol riot requested communications records of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who also attended Trump’s rally on Jan. 6.
“We will not quit fighting,” Paxton said at the rally. “We’re Texans, we’re Americans, and the fight will go on.”"We will not quit fighting." – Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General
tweet this
To date, the state’s top cop has refused to release any records regarding Jan. 6. (Late last year, he also filed unsuccessful lawsuits challenging the election results, echoing the same conspiracy theory that led Trump supporters to raid the Capitol earlier this year.)
Biedermann and Paxton aren’t the only Texas Republicans who have found themselves in the spotlight facing accusations of responsibility for the riot that left a police officer dead and more than 100 wounded.
Jamarr Brown, co-executive director, Texas Democratic Party, said Texas and Florida had the largest number of participants in the riot.
"Groups like the Proud Boys and other domestic terrorist groups feel entitled because of the acceptance and encouragement they receive from elected Republican officials," Brown told the Observer. "Many Republicans, especially in Texas, have benefited politically from aligning themselves with their dangerous rhetoric in hopes of gaining more political wins."
Brown blamed a slate of Texas Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott, Paxton and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, for "fueling the outrage and spreading lies regarding the election."
"Lives were lost and yet there is still complete denial and lack of responsibility by Republicans of one of the worst days in our country’s history," he added.
Cruz has also faced plenty of blowback since the riot, with Democrats and other critics accusing the Texas Republican of seeking to undermine President Joe Biden’s victory in November 2020.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Republican from East Texas, went to bat for Capitol rioters during a July press conference. “Sadly, two systems of justice exist in America today: one for former President Trump along with those who support or don't hate him, and the other for everyone else,” he said.
At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas in early July, Gohmert also promoted the baseless claim that the Jan. 6 riot was part of plot carried out by Democrats and the federal government. (Before the riot, Gohmert had warned of “violence in the streets.”)
Gohmert couldn't be reached for comment.
As of Friday, the FBI field office in Dallas, which covers most of the state's top half, had arrested 31 people for their alleged involvement in the riot. The Dallas office anticipated more arrests to come, said spokesperson Melinda Urbina. "We still have stuff in the pipeline," she said by phone.
Last week, news broke that Owen Shroyer, a host with the Texas-based conspiracy theory website Infowars, had also been charged over his alleged role in the riot. Meanwhile, North Texas real estate broker Jenna Ryan pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge over the unrest.
Across the country, federal authorities have charged at least 624 people over their alleged participation in the insurrection.
