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There was a clear distinction between the peaceful protestors who descended upon Washington D.C. Wednesday versus the “thugs” who stormed the Capitol, Indiana Rep. Jim Banks told WIBC’s Tony Katz Thursday morning.

“99.9% of the hundreds of thousands of people who showed up yesterday to hear the President and then move up to the Capitol were there to peacefully protest,” said Banks. “And there is a major distinction between them and those who fought with Capitol police officers, broke through windows, and tore their way into the Capitol, which resulted in the loss of life for a woman who was shot just off of the House floor.”

Rep. Banks said he is hopeful the individuals who perpetrated the violence will be brought to justice.

“I hope that we use all the law enforcement tools that we have available,” said Banks.

Washington D.C. police said late Wednesday that the security breach at the U.S. Capitol resulted in four deaths and at least 52 arrests.

Two pipe bombs were discovered in the area, according to Washington D.C. police officers – one located outside the RNC and one outside the DNC. Police also found a cooler from a vehicle that had a long gun and Molotov cocktail on the Capitol grounds.

Rep. Banks appeared to offer speculation that some of the individuals who engaged in violence at the Capitol were not, in fact, Trump supporters.

“Certainly the woman who was shot and killed was a Trump supporter, but that doesn’t mean that there might not have been elements of other groups that were dispersed in that crowd as well,” Banks said. “But these are conservatives who engaged in violence and physically fought with Capitol police officers. Conservatives believe in the rule of law and peaceful protests – they don’t storm the Capitol, break windows, and fight with police officers.”

Multiple Republican senators reversed course in the wake of Wednesday’s violence and withdrew their pledge to object to the congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, including Indiana senators Mike Braun and Todd Young.

Rep. Banks said Braun and Young’s decision “didn’t register” for him, noting that the battleground states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin altered federal and state election laws, enacting last-minute changes without the approval of the states’ legislatures

“Nothing that happened [Wednesday] would change my mind regarding the validity of this Constitutional question about the manner in which some of these states conducted themselves on the eve of the election,” said Banks. “They changed their rules without the approval of the states’ legislatures, which [voters] elect at the ballot box to represent us and make these decisions about how these elections are supposed to run.”

Click the link below to hear Tony’s’ full interview with Rep. Jim Banks.

https://omny.fm/shows/tony-katz-and-the-morning-news/rep-jim-banks-talks-riots-at-the-capitol