Brian Sicknick’s Partner Blasts Trump for Floating Jan. 6 Pardons: Everyone Who Died ‘Would Still Be Here Today Had It Not Been For Donald Trump’

Sandra Garza, the partner of fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, did not mince words in her criticism for Donald Trump, telling CNN Newsroom’s Jim Acosta that the former president is directly responsible for the death of Sicknick and everyone else who died during or in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Sicknick died from a series of strokes he suffered after being brutally assaulted by rioters as he and other officers attempted to defend the Capitol. Several other officers died by suicide shortly thereafter, traumatized by their experiences.

Trump continues to poll very highly among GOP primary voters as their top choice for the Republican presidential nomination for 2024, and has been giving speeches at rallies and conservative events around the country, continuing to rant about his baseless claims that he lost the 2020 election due to election fraud and other misrepresentations. At a speech last week in Nashville, he once again floated the idea of issuing pardons to the Jan. 6 rioters if he is re-elected.

Trump “did not just try to diminish the January 6th attack,” said Acosta Saturday afternoon to introduce a clip of the former president speaking in Nashville Friday, “he lied over and over and over again about the human toll of that day while defending the insurrectionists.”

In the clip, Trump praised the rioters as “strong people” and “great patriots,” who were policemen, firemen, soldiers, and sailors. He then falsely claimed “there were no guns” (one rioter who admitted bringing a revolver loaded with hollow-point bullets told federal investigators he regretted he had been unable to find Speaker Nancy Pelosi that day), and “nobody was killed” except for Ashli Babbitt.

“There were a number of lies there,” said Acosta after the clip aired, noting Trump did not mentioned the many police officers who were injured defending the Capitol and did not mention Sicknick, and asked Garza for her reaction to Trump’s comments.

It was “infuriating,” replied Garza, that Trump continued to defend “these terrorists that attempted to overthrow democracy, to murder members of Congress because that’s what they were intending to do.”

“We’ve heard their own words,” she continued, noting how they were clear that they wanted to execute Vice President Mike Pence, Pelosi, and other elected officials. Trump “cannot defend that fact,” because “that’s what they were intending to do, and I am sick and tired of him trying to downplay or outright deny that.”

She was especially angry about Trump supporters who claimed that Sicknick did not die as a result of Jan. 6 because he died of “natural causes.”

“That does not mean that January 6th did not play a role in his death,” she said, bringing up the “horrific” example of Joe Garcia, who died of a heart attack after he learned that his wife, Irma Garcia, was one of the teachers who died in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

“The fact of the matter is, if January 6th had not happened, Brian would be here today,” said Acosta.

“That’s right,” Garza agreed. “That’s right. That’s right.”

It was the same situation with the officers who took their own lives in the weeks that followed the attack, said Acosta. “If January 6th had not happened, those people would still be with us, very likely.”

“Right,” replied Garza. “Donald Trump was messing with the universal balance, that’s what I like to call it…I mean, we have no way of knowing, but Donald Trump wanted to step in there and play a higher power, that’s what I like to call it, and mess with people’s lives. He altered the chain of events in the universe. I believe that all of the people that died on that day and the days following, you know, would still be here today had it not been for Donald Trump wanting to mess with, you know –”

“Our democracy,” said Acosta.

“Yes, right, right.”

Garza described her experience attending the January 6 hearings as “devastating” and “really, really hard,” saying she felt “very, very upset” at some of the video footage, especially clips she had not seen before, and how emotional it was to be with some of the other police officers who had been there that day, or the widows of those who died.

“It just brought up all that pain and anguish and anger all over again,” she said. “It was like reliving that horrid time all over again.”

Acosta asked her about Trump’s recent comments saying he would consider pardoning rioters if he’s re-elected.

“Oh, I was so angry,” said Garza. “He’s purposely riling these people up. This is all a game to him.” She continued:

And what really makes me angry, Jim, is that he’s safe in his white castle with Secret Service protecting him, and he’s running his mouth in the safety of his home where he lives and all his family members, and all the enablers, his favorite people in Congress are safe in their little white castles, while the rest of us are, you know, living without security. And the staffers, the people who cleaned up the savagery of that day — the people who defecated in the Capitol, who urinated in the Capitol — they should have cleaned that stuff up, you know. That really makes me angry because, like I said, the next time something happens we’re going to have a far worse outcome than we did on January 6th.

Pardoning the rioters would be disastrous, she said, “because these people are going to end up doing something worse the next time and we’re going to have a lot more bloodshed.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.