Wood County political figures weigh in on Jan. 6 committee hearings

PARKERSBURG -- The first of four scheduled hearings by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol took place during prime-time TV Thursday evening, detailing the findings of the panel's investigation.

New footage from the Jan. 6 attack was shown, along with new interviews from White House staffers such as former Attorney General William Barr, Trump spokesman Jason Miller, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. The committee also revealed testimony from Trump White House officials who stated the former President did not want the attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop, and got angry at any advisor who urged him to make it stop.

"It's eye opening." Jody Murphy, Democrat running for the Senate's District 3 seat said. "To see what went on behind the scenes, what the committee uncovered. It's kind of scary, honestly, that you had a sitting President and members of his administration and cabinet, actively participating in an effort to overturn an election."

Current District 3 seat holder, Republican Michael Azinger, said he only watched about five minutes of the hearing but described it as "essentially a Stalinist show trial."

"This is the first time in American history when the other side didn't have an opportunity to bring its case," Azinger said. "The biggest lesson of all of this is that Nancy Pelosi was offered the National Guard numerous times, and refused every time. She didn't do her job as Speaker to protect the United States Capitol."

Azinger was present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and contributes the violence to ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter.

"Except for the little area in the Capitol where people were destroying the building, it was a grandiose display of genuine American patriotism, and love of God," he stated.

Two groups known as The Proud Boys and Oathkeepers were talked about by the committee as some members sought to link former President Trump to them directly, citing a comment the former President made during a September 2020 debate in which he said The Proud Boys should "stand back and stand by."

They also showed testimony from Proud Boys leaders about how they viewed that as a call to arms. Prosecutors at the Justice Department have charged 17 members of these groups with seditious conspiracy.

"If we don't do something about this…," Judy Stevens, Chairwoman of the Wood County Democratic Party said. "If we don't prosecute everyone involved, we're saying this is OK. We need to prosecute President Trump and everyone else involved. People don't know the tenuous grip that's on our democracy right now. People need to get out and vote! That's the only way we're going to change this."

Murphy also believes everyone involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol should be prosecuted.

"This is no small thing," Murphy said. "They tried to overturn the election, which eventually would've toppled our government that we've had in place since 1789. Anybody that set foot on Capitol grounds, invaded the Capitol, breached the Capitol, should be penalized. They should be punished to the full extent of the law."

Chairman of the Wood County Republican Party Rob Cornelius said he didn't watch any of the hearing and believes them to be a waste of everyone's time.

"Americans have bigger things to worry about," Cornelius said, "like inflation and a mentally incompetent president. We don't need to worry about nonsense like that."

U.S. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards also testified about her personal account of the events that took place during the attack on the Capitol.

"It was carnage. It was chaos. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would find myself in the middle of the battle," she testified.

Edwards was knocked unconscious and suffered a traumatic brain injury during the Jan. 6 attack.

Walt Auvil, member of the Executive Committee of the West Virginia Democratic Party said the footage and testimony made it feel more personal for him.

"Here's a young lady just trying to do her job and she gets beaten by these bullies," Auvil said. "It's terrible. It's ungentlemanly, it's disrespectful and awful. But rather than admit that, and tell the truth to the people, we have Republicans out there covering up for it, excusing it, and lying about it. It's sad."

The schedule for the next hearing is set for today at 10 a.m. and the last two of the four hearings will take place on Wednesday at 10 a.m. and Thursday at 1 p.m.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com