{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.welch.senate.gov/ranking-member-welch-pushes-back-against-far-right-claims-of-one-sided-politically-motivated-violence/", "Ranking Member Welch Pushes Back Against Far-Right Claims of \u2018One-Sided\u2019 Politically Motivated Violence", "2025-10-28", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "www.welch.senate.gov", "welch", "https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-release/page/", "scraper", "Welch: \u201cAll of us must condemn every act of violence that tears at the fabric of our society and is absolutely, totally corrosive to our democracy.\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, pushed back on the Republican majority\u2019s false narrative of \u2018one-sided\u2019 political violence during a Subcommittee hearing titled \u201cPolitically Violent Attacks: A Threat to Our Constitutional Order.\u201d In his remarks, Senator Welch called on both parties to strongly condemn all politically-motivated attacks and renew a bipartisan commitment to civility.\n\n\u201cI just want to make it clear I am absolutely horrified by political violence in this country,\u201d said Senator Welch. \u201cI want to say this: the stakes are really too high for the American people and the health of our democracy to use this hearing as an opportunity to demonize one side or the other. If all violence\u2014all political violence\u2014is wrong, is evil, is corrosive, the debate about where there\u2019s more on one side or the other, I don\u2019t see how that helps us get anywhere. Politicizing violence with inflammatory rhetoric has real consequences. So, all of us have to turn that temperature down, those of us who are in public office, those of us who are in public life.\u201d\n\nWatch Senator Welch\u2019s full remarks below:\n\nRead and download Senator Welch\u2019s full opening remarks as delivered.\n\nIn one exchange, following Officer Hodges\u2019 testimony describing his experience defending the United States Capitol against the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021, Senator Welch asked the other hearing witnesses to raise their hands if they agreed with President Trump\u2019s pardoning of individuals convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Every Majority witness raised their hands in support of President Trump\u2019s blanket pardon of January 6 rioters.\n\nWitnesses for the Minority included Officer Daniel Hodges, an officer with Washington D.C.\u2019s Metropolitan Police Department since 2014, who defended the United States Capitol against the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021, and was injured in the attack. Officer Hodges was honored with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Biden in 2023. The Committee also heard testimony from Bill Braniff, a respected leader in America\u2019s efforts to prevent violent extremism and the Executive Director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) in the School of Public Affairs at American University.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.welch.senate.gov/ranking-member-welch-pushes-back-against-far-right-claims-of-one-sided-politically-motivated-violence/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.497010001912713, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}