Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin was grieving on the morning of Jan. 6, having just experienced the most painful of tragedies: burying his 25 year-old-son, Tommy, a gifted student at Harvard Law School, who had taken his own life on New Year’s Eve after a bout of deep depression.
But this was the day Congress was to officially certify Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory — and with scores of Republican lawmakers vowing to object, Raskin, a constitutional law professor, had a job to do: He had been slated to help lead the Democratic response in a crisis that threatened to upend American democracy.
“Daddy, don’t go. I want you to stay home,” his daughter, Tabitha, pleaded, fearing possible violence. Raskin was insistent. “I swore a constitutional oath,” he told his daughter. “I’ve got to go.” He invited Tabitha to come with him. “We wanted to be together,” Raskin said in an interview on the Yahoo News “Skullduggery” podcast. “I wanted to be close to her, and she wanted to be close to me.”
Raskin’s courage was tested that day when a furious mob of Trump supporters assaulted the U.S. Capitol, breaking through barriers and smashing windows. A Capitol police officer was killed, and members of Congress and staffers, huddled together for hours in windowless rooms, were exposed to COVID-19 by Republican colleagues who refused entreaties to wear masks; at least five House members have since tested positive.
Read the full story here: https://news.yahoo.com/maryland-democrat-jamie-raskin-turns-from-his-sons-funeral-to-managing-trumps-impeachment-222907785.html