Videos of the Jan. 6 riots include Schumer being evacuated by his security detail in the midst of the mayhem, as they had to change course and run from the crowd.
“I was within 30 feet of these nasty, racist, bigoted insurrectionists. Had someone had a gun, had two of them blocked off the door, who knows what would have happened. I was told later that one of them reportedly said, ‘There’s the big Jew. Let’s go get him,'” said Schumer. The anti-Semitic recounting was originally told to NYT in March 2021.
According to media reports, one rioter was wearing a sweatshirt that read “Camp Auschwitz” on January 6, which was also the day Schumer learned he would become the Senate majority leader. The news came after Jon Ossoff won the final Georgia Senate race.
More Democratic senators had prepared speeches to mark the one-year anniversary of the 2021 attacks on Capitol Hill, in which they also blasted GOP politicians, including Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Lindsey Graham.
Schumer, who has been criticized by Democrats as being ‘too’ cautious, is threatening to upend Senate traditions by addressing the Senate’s legislative filibuster rules. He will do so if Republicans vote to block the Democrats' voting rights legislation.
“If Senate Republicans continue to abuse the filibuster to prevent this body from acting, then the Senate must adapt,” Schumer said on Tuesday.
The vote is currently planned for January 17.