Local GOP leaders say Texas lawmakers who backed Trump don’t share blame for deadly riot

BELL COUNTY, Texas (KWTX)-- Local Republican Party leaders are rejecting the idea that some Texas Republican lawmakers share blame for inciting the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has been accused of complicity because of his continued objections to the election results that name Joe Biden as president-elect.

Central Texas U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco, has also been criticized for his support of efforts to overturn the election results.

Sessions has echoed President Donald Trump’s false allegations the election was fraudulent.

In an interview with News Ten’s Washington, D.C. bureau just one day before the deadly attack on the Capitol, Session confirmed that he would be attending Wednesday’s protest at the Capitol.

“I believe that president Trump is the one that won this election so I will be there and ready with my flag,” said Sessions, waving a ‘Stop the Steal’ flag.

In the interview Sessions also revealed he had met with one of the organizers of the protest.

The chair of the Bell County Republican Party, Nancy Boston, said due to the unusual nature of the riots it would be unfair to insinuate that Republican lawmakers could have imagined it, much less support it.

“There is the first amendment. People do have a right to peacefully protest and that’s what he was saying,” Boston said. “I don’t think they should take any responsibility for it.”

In the hours following the attack on the Capitol, Sessions took to Twitter assuring the public that he and his staffers are safe. He also condemned the attacks calling them illegal and unprecedented.

KWTX reached out to Sessions’ office Wednesday to ask whether he takes any responsibility for Wednesday’s attack.

He was unavailable for an interview.

Copyright 2021 KWTX. All rights reserved.