Rep. Andy Kim is donating the blue suit he was wearing during the US Capitol attack on January 6 to the Smithsonian upon the institution’s request.
The New Jersey congressman helped clean up the debris that the pro-Trump rioters caused inside the Capitol Building on that day.
He made news with photos showing him kneeling down to pick up items strewn across the floor of the Rotunda in the early hours of January 7, 2021, working together with Capitol Police officers.
Kim made a series of tweets on Tuesday, announcing his donation to the Smithsonian to mark the six-month anniversary of the US Capitol breach. “6 months ago today I wore this blue suit as I cleaned the Capitol after the insurrection, now I just donated it to the Smithsonian,” he wrote. “Jan6 must never be forgotten. While some try to erase history, I will fight to tell the story so it never happens again.”
6 months ago today I wore this blue suit as I cleaned the Capitol after the insurrection, now I just donated it to the Smithsonian. Jan6 must never be forgotten. While some try to erase history, I will fight to tell the story so it never happens again. Here is one story…(THREAD) pic.twitter.com/GKePd1ZMrr
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) July 6, 2021
He continued with telling the story of the now-famous blue suit in his following tweets, in which he explained that he bought it off-the-rack at JCrew during a holiday sale, and that he originally wanted to wear it to Joe Biden’s inauguration. “Then Jan 6 happened,” he wrote.
“Like my suit, what I did on Jan 6 on its face was unremarkable. I saw a mess and cleaned it. I wanted to right the wrongs of that day as quickly and as tangibly as I could.”
After photos of him cleaning up the mess at the Capitol went viral, Kim said, he received thousands of cards from across the country, and many of them were from children.
Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., helps ATF police officers clean up debris and personal belongings strewn across the floor of the Rotunda in the early morning hours of Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, after protesters stormed the Capitol in Washington, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) @ap pic.twitter.com/hBsC70uxPW
— Andrew Harnik (@andyharnik) January 7, 2021
“Strangers who wanted to tell me how they felt when they saw the photo of me. They talked about the blue suit. The suit meant something different to them than it did to me,” he continued. “People wrote saying the blue suit gave them a sense of resilience and hope. For me, I was in a tough place. In days after Jan6 I had an unshakable regret that I didn’t do more to keep people safe. But feeling of hope/resilience in the cards helped me feel stronger. Thank you.”