Val Demings implores Republicans to see impeachment as ‘a moment of human decency’

After getting emotional discussing the sights and sounds of police officers overwhelmed, injured, and killed yet still defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Democratic Rep. Val Demings on Thursday cautioned Republican senators to not disrespectfully brush off the impeachment presentations.

“This is a moment of human decency,” Demings said during an interview on CNN’s “New Day” show Thursday morning.

The Orlando Congresswoman is a former cop who retired as Orlando Police Chief after 26 years on the force. She also was a Democratic impeachment manager in the 2020 impeachment trial of President Donald Trump for the Ukraine scandal.

Thursday morning her face and voice showed grief, then pride, then anger, as she and CNN’s John Berman reviewed some of the video and audio recordings showing brutalization of police defending the Capitol and as they discussed reports of some Republican senators ignoring the Democrats’ impeachment presentations Wednesday.

Her message to those senators: show some human decency toward those police, by respectfully paying attention to the presentations and then acknowledge why the rioters attacked — because Trump sent them.

“Let’s go back to the police officers that day. You know, police officers have a duty to act. They can’t pick and chose which calls they want to respond to. They have a duty to act. I’m sure they were afraid they were going to lose their lives that day. I know some of them wanted to drive away, run and hide. But they did not. They stood strong and fought for our democracy, and fought to protect us. You know why? Because they remember their oaths,” Demings said.

“It would be nice if the senators who are afraid of political repercussions would put America first and put plain old what’s-right-and-what’s-wrong first,” she added.

Berman noted that one of the Democratic impeachment managers, Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, cited one of the biblical beatitudes, “Blessed are the Peacemakers,” in describing the Capitol Police under siege. Demings said she often cited that scripture in talking with her officers during challenging times.

“I would remind them, blessed are the peacemakers, that we’re on the right side of this issue. We are that thin blue line that stands between evil and good,” she said.