Congressional leaders gathered Wednesday in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to pay tribute to Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after being injured during the siege of the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump on January 6.
Sicknick's remains arrived Tuesday at the Capitol in a solemn ceremony featuring dozens of Capitol Police officers, who stood at attention as his urn was carried up the steps to the Rotunda.
In remarks during a ceremony Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Sicknick a patriot and said he will never be forgotten. "Each day, when members (of Congress) enter the Capitol, this temple of democracy, we will remember his sacrifice," she said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also spoke, calling Sicknick "a good, kind man." Members of the officer's family attended the ceremony.
After their remarks, representatives and senators filed past Sicknick's remains and paid their respects.
Late Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, also paid their respects to the fallen officer, and Capitol Police were given an opportunity to participate in a viewing period overnight.
Later Wednesday, Sicknick's remains will be taken to Arlington National Cemetery for burial.
Pelosi and Schumer announced in a joint statement last week that Sicknick would lie in honor in the Rotunda. They said his heroism on January 6 "helped save lives, defend the temple of our democracy and ensure that the Congress was not diverted from our duty to the Constitution."
Thousands of supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol that afternoon as Congress met to confirm Biden's victory in the November election.
Sicnick is only the fifth person to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Others given that honor were civil rights leader Rosa Parks, televangelist Billy Graham, and Capitol Police officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, who died defending the Capitol building in a shooting attack in 1998.
