OKLAHOMA CITY – Three of Oklahoma’s five members of the U.S. Congress – Republicans Frank Lucas, Kevin Hern and Stephanie Bice – touched upon a variety of important subjects at the Oklahoma Press Association Convention June 12.
U.S. Reps. Tom Cole (R- Moore) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Westville) were unable to attend this year’s event at a Sheraton Hotel conference room of journalists and newspaper publishers from around the state.
OPA President Mike Strain moderated the Q&A with fielded questions from OPA members. Questions ranged from increased postal rates for newspapers as well as the controversial “insurrection” that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“Congress is as challenging an environment as I’ve ever seen,” noted Lucas, who’s served District 3 since 1994. “It’s as challenging as you report it to be.”
JANUARY 6 QUESTIONS
When asked if their support of former President Donald Trump influenced whether or not to vote for forming a bipartisan commission to investigate the events of Jan. 6, Hern replied “No,” which elicited chuckles from the assembled journalists.
Always one for a quick one-liner, Lucas said, “Donald who?”
Strain then asked the members of Congress to elaborate on that day. Of the five delegates, Bice alone supported creating a bipartisan commission to investigate the events of January 6.
“I watched the Capitol police show the most amazing restraint in trying to defend the exterior of the building,” Lucas said. “I had never seen anything like that before in our nation’s capital.”
Lucas recalled being an Oklahoma State University student during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, witnessing how one student’s protest turned into a large mob that quickly got “out of control,” he said.
“I found that day in 1979 to be as unnerving as anything I’ve ever experienced,” said Lucas. “And I felt the same way, watching what occurred” on January 6.
“Does anyone have a right to attack other people? No. Does anyone have a right to damage federal property? No. Should the perpetrators today be chased, pursued and prosecuted under existing federal law? Yes.”
Lucas said that 400 people have been arrested in connection with the January 6 events in Washington, D.C.
“Court cases are underway,” he noted. “Whoever you want to blame, the fact of the matter is that was an unacceptable day. I believe that the legal system will deal with this. I expect that to be the case. I expect the appropriate committees in the House and the other body ... to fulfill their responsibilities.”
Later, in their remarks, Lucas recalled September 11, 2001, while watching the Pentagon burning in the distance following the terrorist attacks. Cold War-era protocols allegedly put in place for members of Congress, were not implemented to include members of Congress. Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Congressional leadership were airlifted to secret bunkers while Lucas and others were “turned out onto the street,” he said.
“We didn’t learn enough from 2001 to be prepared for what came on January 6th,” Lucas said.
Hern and 20 others, including his staff, remained in his office for about eight hours, he said.
“Post-January 6, we have had complete confidential hearings with no press involved,” said Hern, who has represented Oklaho- ma’s First District since 2018. “Democrats, Republicans. Speaker Pelosi ran those meetings. And the Capitol Police Chief, the National Guard Chief. We had both Sergeants-At-Arms ... and they talked for an hour-and-a-half and not one time did any of them implicate President Trump as the reason for the January 6th insurrection. Not once. They had every opportunity, as it was a bipartisan hearing.” The Congressman added that a similar classified hearing on the Senate side did not implicate Trump either.
“No. President Trump had nothing to do with my decision on how to vote,” Hern said.
Hern stated that Capitol police and other authorities were aware “for days” in advance about a march and rally at the Capitol, yet not much was done to prepare.
Bice, three days into her new job on Capitol Hill, opted to go to the House and listen from the gallery. When Capitol police announced the building had been breached, followed by an “intrusion into the rotunda,” Bice and others were given protective hoods to flee in case tear gas was diffused.
“My reason for the January 6th commission was because I want to know why there was such a lack of leadership from the Capitol police,” she said. “A lack of transparency with the House Sergeant-at-Arms and the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms. This had nothing to do with the President.”
Bice said the Capitol police “were doing everything they could to protect the members and the staff in the Capitol.”
She urged those in the audience to read the Senate report.
“There are some huge deficiencies with Capitol leadership and the communications that happened that day,” she said. “We can’t have that happen again. There are adversaries who watched what happened and thought, ‘That was easy.’ It didn’t have to do with what the President did or didn’t say. It had to do with the fact that we need the seat of government – of democracy — to be secure and for Congress to feel safe.”
Strain, moderating the Q&A, asked Lucas if Capitol Hill was now safe. The Cheyenne Republican replied that it was, even with the barriers and razor wire coming down recently. But those charged with protecting the Capitol have learned much in the past six months and any future attacks would be handled in a far more serious manner. Lucas noted that in 1801, President Jefferson stationed soldiers in barracks near the Capitol for similar reasons.
“The restraint shown by Capitol police that day is not how they would handle another sort of an event,” Lucas said. “I don’t expect another similar experience. Leadership will have more resources and act in a more unified fashion.”