What did Commanders coach Jack Del Rio say about the Capitol riot?
Jack Del Rio has sparked outrage after playing down the Capitol riot and suggesting the BLM movement should have been investigated
On 6 January, 2021, supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in Washington in the belief that the election win of President-Elect Joe Biden had been fraudulently obtained. Stoked by Trump’s baseless claims of electoral fraud and his campaign to overturn Biden’s victory, a mob of thousands descended on the seat of US lawmaking in an attempt to prevent a Congressional joint congress from ratifying the Democratic nominee’s appointment. A public investigation into the insurrection is due to start on 9 June under the auspice of a select committee hearing.
Speaking a day ahead of the first day of the hearing, Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio has faced a backlash for suggesting the protests that were staged across the US in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin should have been investigated in the same way as the assault on the Capitol.
Del Rio: “We’re going to make that a major deal”
“I can look at images on the TV, people’s livelihoods are being destroyed, businesses are being burned down, no problem. And then we have a dust up at the Capitol, nothing burned down, and we’re going to make that a major deal,” Del Rio was reported as saying during a press conference.
According to the US Department of Justice, there were 725 arrests made during the Capitol riot and 225 people face criminal charges over the insurrection. Five people died during or after the riot and 138 police officers were injured. The Capitol building itself suffered $1.5 million in damages.
The 2020 protests over the death of George Floyd started in the Minneapolis and swiftly spread across the US and the rest of the world, sparking the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality.