Last week, the pair went to Capitol Hill to lobby lawmakers to vote and even went door-to-door on Capitol Hill hoping to get answers, but the Senate struck the commission down 54-35, just shy of the 60-vote threshold, CBS News reported.
The mother of fallen U.S. Capitol officer Brian Sicknick, and longtime partner Sandra Garza vowed to keep fighting despite Senate Republicans' refusal for an independent commission to investigate the events leading to Sicknick’s death during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Last week, the pair went to Capitol Hill to lobby lawmakers to vote and even went door-to-door on Capitol Hill hoping to get answers, but the Senate struck the commission down 54-35, just shy of the 60-vote threshold, CBS News reported.
”I'm disgusted that the Republican senators, that decided to vote no,” Garza told CBS News. “It's a spit in the face to Brian, it's a spit in the face to all the officers that were there that day.”
Garza said the senators who did not even show up for the vote committed a "dereliction of duty."
Gladys Sicknick was dismayed and called it “sad.” ”Nobody has the answers. I mean, even the people who voted for this bill, they don't have any answers,” she said.
On Jan. 6 during the siege of on the U.S. Captiol, Officer Sicknick was attacked with chemical spray and collapsed. He died a day later at a hospital, CBS News reported.
Two men had been accused of assaulting Sicknick by spraying the chemical irritant at him during the siege, but prosecutors have not tied that exposure to Sicknick’s death, The Washington Post previously reported.
Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes, according to the District’s chief medical examiner, who found no evidence that indicated that Sicknick had suffered an allergic reaction to the chemical used, the Post reported.
The ruling, released in mid-April, would make it difficult for prosecutors to pursue homicide charges in the officer’s death, the Post reported.
Both women answered “yes’ when they were asked if either of them blame former President Donald Trump.
Garza said Brian supported Trump and she was extremely disheartened that Trump never made an effort to speak to her or Brian’s family. “He knew that Brian was devoted to him and he didn’t once reach out to me, to Gladys, he didn’t even send a letter of condolences. He did absolutely nothing.”
Despite their anguish, Garza told CBS that she does not plan on filing a lawsuit against Trump.
Gladys Sicknick described her son as a gentle person, but also said “don’t push him in a corner.” She used the word "appalled" as to how her son would feel if he were alive today regarding the ordeal.
The pair refuse to give up on a Jan. 6 commission and on Tuesday plan on meeting with Rep. Liz Cheney, who was removed in May from GOP leadership after speaking out against the former president, among other lawmakers.
Garza and Gladys Sicknick also plan on ways to carry on Officer Sicknick’s legacy that would have made him proud.
