HARRISBURG – PA House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Majority Chairman Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) issued the following statement Monday in response to false accusations regarding his whereabouts on Wednesday, Jan. 6:
“‘Innocent until proven guilty,'” is another right that the left is attempting to eliminate with their un-American attacks on free speech, freedom of religion and the right to bear arms!
“Monday, a colleague notified me of an e-mail he received demanding to know where he was last week during the D.C. Capitol riot. In addition, the sender of the e-mail falsely accused me of having been ‘inside the Capitol building,‘ and went on to write that I ‘should be facing similar charges.’
“Sunday, a friend alerted me to a tweet with a picture falsely accusing me of having been in the D.C. Capitol on Jan. 6, and taking part in what they called ‘the insurrection.’ Later Sunday morning, I received an email from a state Capitol reporter asking if I had been in the D.C. Capitol.
“I informed the reporter that on Wednesday, Jan. 6, I traveled home to Cranberry Township from the state Capitol where I had been on Tuesday, Jan. 5 for legislative session and our swearing-in ceremony.
“To confirm, I drove home on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Wednesday morning, spent the rest of the day working in my district, until I met friends for dinner that evening.
“The riot at the D.C. Capitol was perpetrated by criminals, just as riots last year in cities across the country such as Minneapolis, New York City, Portland, Chicago, Kenosha and Philadelphia were perpetrated by criminals.
“All criminals who riot, commit acts of violence and destroy property should have the hammer of justice brought down on them swiftly and decisively.
“Let me be clear. Hundreds of thousands of law-abiding citizens rallied in D.C. last week to exercise their Constitutional right to protest their government accepting election results that were corrupted by unconstitutional and illegal actions of certain state courts, state governors and local election officials, including ours in Pennsylvania.
“The reputation and rights of hundreds of thousands of peaceful law-abiding citizens should not be attacked because of those individuals who attacked our Capitol with criminal intentions!
“In addition to the tragic loss of life and property damage caused by the criminals who rioted, they also harmed our elected Congressional leaders’ efforts to publicly expose the election corruption that occurred across the nation in our most recent presidential election.
“As a state legislator it is our state Legislature’s responsibility, defined in Article 1 Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, to set “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections…” which was indisputably violated by our state Supreme Court, the Wolf administration and some local election officials.
“Since starting my new term of office on Dec. 1, 42 leftist groups led an effort in an attempt to stop me from becoming chairman of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
“I was officially appointed the chairman of the Environmental Resource and Energy Committee by the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Jan. 5. Then on Jan. 7, the Butler County Democratic Committee issued a press release calling for Congressman Mike Kelly and me to resign.
“The leftists may have won this battle through their unconstitutional and illegal efforts to influence the outcome of our most recent presidential election, but they have not won the war.
“We live in a nation that was founded by those who loved liberty and there are still millions of us who remain committed to using the political system our forefathers founded to defend our liberty!
“The liberals have made a hobby of calling for my resignation and my removal because I fight their attacks on our liberty! Throughout history leftists have attempted to manipulate people through misinformation, deception and lies, and the leftists here and now are continuing that wicked practice! I will continue fighting to protect our God-given rights and our Constitutions that affirm them!”
