By Summer Concepcion and Frank Thorp V -
NBC News
The family of police officer Brian Sicknick, who died hours after defending the Capitol on January 6, 2021, refused to shake hands with the two leading Republican members of Congress at a ceremony on Tuesday.
Sicknick's family members walked with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., during a recognition event for hundreds of officers who They were at the Capitol on January 6.
McConnell had his hand out, but the Sicknick family ignored his gesture.
After the event, they told NBC News that they had made no mistake in passing up the opportunity to shake hands with the leaders of the Republican Party.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stands with his hand outstretched to shake hands with Charles Sicknick, the father of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknic during an event in the Capitol Rotunda on December 6, 2022. .Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“We met and said that we were not going to shake their hands,”
Gladys Sicknick, the mother of the deceased officer, told NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
She called on congressional Republicans who continue to support former President Trump, "go to Mar-a-Lago and you know, kiss his ring or whatever they do there."
The woman met with Republican lawmakers last year to ask them to vote to create an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol attack.
McConnell and McCarthy opposed the commission.
The legislation passed in the House of Representatives, but was blocked in the Senate due to Republican opposition led by McConnell.
Ken Sicknick, brother of the deceased officer, told NBC News that his refusal to shake hands with GOP leaders at the ceremony is "self-explanatory."
[Four police officers who defended the Capitol from assault by Trump supporters have committed suicide]
“They continue to perpetrate the big lie, or at least don't report it, which is basically the same thing, and they refuse to convict Donald Trump,” he said, referring to the former president's false claims about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.Courtesy Sicknick family
Craig Sicknick, another brother of the agent, also drew McCarthy's attention for his initial condemnation of Trump after the attack on the Capitol, but his change of position by remaining a staunch defender of the former president.
“They are speaking here today in honor of the officers and what happened, but at the same time, they are doing a lot to support what caused the events of January 6, rather than denounce them,” Craig Sicknick stressed.
Former Metropolitan Police Department officer Mike Fanone, who suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury after being violently assaulted on January 6, said he was “surprised” that McCarthy was present at the ceremony.
“I was actually surprised that Kevin McCarthy turned up.
I thought he would be busy trying to figure out how he could suspend the Constitution on behalf of former President Trump," Fanone said in an interview with CNN.
[The leader of the extremist group Oath Keepers is found guilty of sedition for his role in the storming of the Capitol]
"That ceremony happened despite Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell, not because of them," he added.
"And so, the fact that they got to go there and utter words was meaningless."
Gladys Sicknick, mother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, stands with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
Sicknick received the rare distinction of being laid to rest in the Rotunda of the building.
He was injured “while physically engaging protesters” and returned to his division office, where he collapsed, Capitol Police said in a statement.
This man recorded the assault on Pelosi's office.
He is now on trial for six criminal charges.
Nov 17, 202200:27
The chief medical examiner in Washington DC determined that Sicknick died of natural causes the day after the riots, on January 6, after suffering two strokes.
Last September, one of the Capitol attackers Julian Khater pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting law enforcement officers in a virtual appearance before US District Judge Thomas Hogan.
Khater admitted that he sprayed an irritating chemical in the face of two officers: Sicknick and Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards.