VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Congresswoman Elaine Luria, of Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, will be front and center when the final January 6th Committee hearing takes place before a primetime audience next Thursday night.
The former U.S. Navy officer, over the past few weeks, has become a consistent guest on national television news programs as the history-making January 6th committee hearings, subject to change, are scheduled to come to an end.
But since all politics is local, Luria has carved out time to meet and speak to voters in the now more Republican-leaning 2nd Congressional District.
After a flurry of activity on the House floor, Luria spoke with 10 On Your Side about her place in history and what she hopes to accomplish as a Democratic member of Congress who offered her services to the Democrat-led panel. Luria will co-moderate the closing arguments with Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R) of Illinois’ 16th Congressional District.
“We will hear from people who worked directly in the White House, those aware of the events of that day and who can paint a clear picture of what happened that day, the actions taken and the actions not taken,” said Luria in a Zoom teleconference interview.
“What we seek to show is that the president didn’t act. He did nothing that day to stop the violence, and he sat silent when he had the chance to speak to the nation as presidents do from the oval office.”
Luria, a former Navy commander, says evidence shows the former Commander-in-Chief is guilty of dereliction of duty in how he failed to take decisive action to stop the mob that stormed the Capitol.
“The President clearly has a duty outlined in the Constitution that the laws are to be executed. On this date, he did not take that action as commander and it was a dereliction of duty. If you frame it like in the Navy, it’s like the captain of the ship watching the ship burn to the waterline and not take any action. That would be a dereliction of duty. This is a situation that’s very similar, that he could have stopped the violence and he didn’t,” Luria.
“One of the things people ask me is ‘This was a year and a half ago, but I would say, it’s still a present danger today, of what led up to the violence, the extremist groups, the ideologies, undermining people’s trust in our system, these are things we still have to grapple with,” Luria said.
Like Luria, co-moderator Adam Kinzinger has also served in the military as a pilot in the United States Air Force and he currently serves as a pilot in the Air National Guard.
Over the weekend, Kinzinger shared on social media that he has received death threats against him and members of his family.