Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee says he became ‘stressed, anxious’ and experienced chest pains after the Capitol riot – and has consulted a trauma physician who saw the signs of post-traumatic stress.
Kildee was in the House gallery on January 6th when Congress met to count the electoral votes – and ended up being evacuated along with other House members who were there while a mob ransacked the building and ultimately made it inside the House chamber.
‘I went home. I thought I was fine,’ he said of the time after police and National Guard forces were finally able to restore order.
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) has spoken about his mental and physical response to the Jan. 6th Capitol riot
But then, in comments he shared in a sit-down interview with NBC, he said signs of the stress began showing up.
‘I thought it was a few dozen people, it was hundreds and hundreds of violent people,’ he said of the riot, ‘and that triggered an emotional and physical reaction. I had a lot of tension in my chest breathing was difficult, I became really irritable. You’re feeling stressed, anxious. You’re having chest pain,’ he said.
Eventually, Kildee connected with Dr. Jim Gordon, who founded the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, who told the network he immediately identified the signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. Gordon has made numerous media appearances, and has worked with people suffering PTSD from war zones and school shootings.
‘These are all fight or flight, that’s being prolonged, but they’re supposed to go away, but they didn’t go away,’ he said.
Kildee says he had an ’emotional and physical reaction’ to the riot
He spoke to NBC about the impact of the events
Kilee met with Dr. Jim Gordon, who founded the Center for Mind-Body Medicine
Kildee tweeted about the riot in real-time
‘This is not something I ever expected to experience, not something that I anticipated,’ said Kildee, who represents Flint and serves as the Democrats’ chief deputy whip.
‘Most people who experienced trauma don’t experience it in real time on every network across the world. They do it privately, quietly, painfully, silently, alone. And so if I can speak to them, that’s what I want to do,’ he said.
Kildee tweeted about his experiences in real-time January 6th, and was pictured in the gallery that day.
‘I am in the House Chambers. We have been instructed to lie down on the floor and put on our gas masks. Chamber security and Capitol Police have their guns drawn as protesters bang on the front door of the chamber. This is not a protest. This is an attack on America,’ he wrote.
‘I have been evacuated from the House Chambers and have been escorted to an alternate, safe location,’ he wrote in a subsequent tweet. ‘This is a dark moment for the history of our country. Praying for an end to the violence and safety for everyone in the Capitol.’
In the days after the riot, he called for impeaching President Trump, then tweeted out support for Republican lawmakers, including a pair of Michigan Republicans, who backed impeachment.
Kildee’s statements about his mental health since the riot comes after ten House Democrats have now joined a lawsuit first filed by Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi accusing former President Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani of stoking the MAGA riot.
Each signed onto the suit in their ‘personal capacity.’
Lawmakers joining the suit included Tennessee Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen, who spoke about contemplating his own death during the riot.
‘Anticipating that he might not emerge from the House Gallery alive, he began to contemplate whether he would want to be buried with his family in Memphis or at the Congressional Cemetery,’ it says.
Cohen states: ‘As I sat in my office on January 6th with rioters roaming the hallways, I feared for my life and thought I was going to die.
‘This invasion was a direct result of Donald Trump’s rhetoric and words. His calls to gather in Washington on January 6th and his message to ‘be strong’ thwarted the functioning of our Constitution.’
Others spoke about physical injuries.
Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas was filled with fear during the riot. ‘Her heart began racing as she realized she might be trapped in the House Gallery,’ it says.
Rep. Pramila Jaypal of Washington describes having trouble getting down on the floor when ordered to because of her recent surgery. She was ‘exhausted and drained by the throbbing pain in her greatly swollen knee,’ she says in the law suit.
