A video of Consultant Tom Rice, a South Carolina Republican, blasting former President Donald Trump's "incitement" of violence on January 6, 2021 throughout a Thursday GOP major debate has gone viral, garnering lots of of 1000's of views.

Rice, who's going through off towards a Trump-endorsed opponent, was one of many 10 Home Republicans to affix Democrats to question the then-president for inciting his supporters to assault the federal legislative department of presidency 16 months in the past in an obvious effort to disrupt the formal certification of President Joe Biden's Electoral School victory. On February 1, Trump introduced his endorsement of South Carolina state Consultant Russel Fry in his bid to unseat the incumbent Republican.

Throughout the debate, Rice laid out his criticism of Trump's actions on January 6, contending that the previous president was "proud these individuals have been sacking the U.S. Capitol." A virtually three-minute clip of the GOP congressman's remarks was shared to Twitter by the anti-Trump group, The Republican Accountability Mission, on Friday, which garnered greater than 670,000 views by Saturday morning.

"Democracy is a fragile factor and the one factor that we've got to guard us from tyranny is our Structure. And our Structure must be protected in any respect prices," Rice warned. The Republican lawmaker additionally defined that the framers of the Structure understood that males "have been corrupt" and created a system of checks and balances to protect democracy.

Rice then went on to put out what he noticed firsthand on January 6 and the way Trump had responded.

"My mates, I used to be there on January 6. I wasn't absent. I used to be there," he stated. "I noticed the bomb squads defusing bombs. I smelled the tear fuel. I used to be on the Home ground when the glass was breaking—after they have been attempting to interrupt down the doorways." Rice stated that he noticed Capitol cops who have been "overwhelmed and damaged" as he was being evacuated with different members of Congress that day.

The congressman defined that after he was evacuated, he began to surprise the place Trump was—questioning why he did nothing to attempt to cease the assault towards Congress.

"He [Trump] was sitting in his eating room subsequent to the Oval Workplace [in the White House] proud that these individuals have been sacking the U.S. Capitol, beating up the Capitol cops, and he did nothing to cease it," the Republican lawmaker stated. Rice identified that Trump, as a substitute of trying to calm his supporters, really tweeted out an assault towards his personal vp, Mike Pence.

"In reality, 20 minutes after they have been within the Capitol, he tweeted out, 'Mike Pence does not have braveness,'" Rice stated. "My mates, you possibly can argue about whether or not his speech that morning was incitement or not, however to me, that one tweet was incitement. If that they had gotten ahold of Mike Pence, we may have misplaced our democracy that day."

Tom Rice
A video of GOP Consultant Tom Rice of South Carolina blasting former President Donald Trump over his January 6, 2021 actions at a GOP major debate has been seen lots of of 1000's of occasions. Above, Rice speaks throughout a Home Methods and Means Oversight Subcommittee listening to on March 17 in Washington, DC.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos

On January 6 at 2:24 p.m. ET, Trump tweeted: "Mike Pence did not have the braveness to do what ought to have been completed to guard our Nation and our Structure."

"Our Structure is simply too treasured to threat," Rice continued. "And the one distinction between me and all these leaders again in Washington who stated, 'Oh Donald Trump went too far, he ought to be impeached, he ought to be eliminated,' after which voted the opposite means—I took the principled stand and I defended our Structure."

Consultant Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, who additionally voted to question Trump and has turn into certainly one of his harshest conservative critics, retweeted the video and praised the congressman. "Honorable males converse the reality. @TomRiceSC7 is an honorable and brave man," the GOP congresswoman, who can also be going through a Trump-endorse challenger, tweeted Friday.

Trump has persistently denied any wrongdoing associated to January 6. The previous president has argued that the Home choose committee investigating the occasions of that violent day is overtly "partisan" and trying to forestall him from searching for future political workplace. He has described the probe as a "witch hunt."

4 of the ten Home Republicans who voted to question Trump have determined to not search reelection. 5 of the six others are going through GOP major challengers endorsed by the previous president. Consultant David Valadao, a California Republican, voted for Trump's impeachment, however doesn't at the moment have a Trump-backed opponent.

"Congressman Tom Rice of South Carolina, the coward who deserted his constituents by caving to Nancy Pelosi and the Radical Left, and who really voted towards me on Impeachment Hoax #2, have to be thrown out of workplace ASAP," Trump stated in a February 1 assertion.

Rice informed NPR in an interview days later: "If we're going to have a state of affairs the place the president can attempt to intimidate Congress into doing what he needs, properly shoot, we'd as properly have a monarchy."

An inside Fry marketing campaign ballot from March confirmed that he held a considerable lead over Rice following Trump's endorsement. That survey confirmed that Fry was 30 factors forward of the GOP incumbent, with 52 p.c assist in comparison with Rice's 22 p.c. The ballot had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 p.c and a confidence stage of 95 p.c.