Sicknick's family urges senators to back probe

The mother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick on Thursday lobbied Republican senators to support a commission to investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Congress.

This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

Sandra Garza’s boyfriend was Brian Sicknick, a police officer who died following the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.

And on Thursday she, along with Sicknick’s friends and mother pressed Republican Senators to create a commission investigating the January 6th attack.

Gladys Sicknick said she was tired of waiting for lawmakers to do something about her son’s death.

“This is why I'm here today and usually I stay in the background.

I couldn't stay quiet anymore.” The siege followed an incendiary speech by then-president Donald Trump, marked by false claims that his 2020 election loss was due to fraud.

Hundreds of Trump supporters then forced their way through Capitol Police in an effort to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's presidential victory.

Federal investigators have charged two men with using bear spray on Officer Sicknick.

A day after the riot, Sicknick suffered a stroke and died.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, joined by a small number of Republicans, voted last week to create a commission to investigate the cause of the riot.

But the bill is now before the evenly-divided Senate, and the proposed commission may not win enough Republican support to become law.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this week pressed his conference to reject it.

“I’ll continue to urge my colleagues to oppose this extraneous layer when the time comes for the Senate to vote.” The Republican resistance follows efforts by that party to downplay the severity of the attack.

Some Republicans such as Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine have voice support for the measure.

But it’s unclear whether proponents will win over the ten Republican votes needed to pass the bill into law.

“They’re supposed to uphold the constitution and right now I don’t think they’re doing it.” Sicknick’s mother said all she could do was hope.