Ruben Gallego: January 6 Coup Attempt Won't Be Last, Next Will Be 'Legal'

Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego of Arizona, a former Marine who two years ago leaned on his combat experience in Iraq to help lawmakers put on gas masks, regulate their breathing, and survive the attack of rioters who broke into the U.S Capitol building on January 6, says he thinks there will be another assault on American democracy — but next time it will be different.

"This type of brazen action probably won't happen the same way," he told Newsweek during an interview that occurred as drama unseen in 100 years unfolded on the House floor, as the newly elected Republican majority was unable to agree on a Speaker. "It would be through legal decisions, the Supreme Court, lower courts, and state houses to make decisions of this nature and corrupting other forms of government."

Beyond a conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court that has already overturned federal abortion protections, Gallego was also referring to restrictive state election laws that could disenfranchise voters of color, as well as to the rise of election deniers running for critical offices that work to administer elections in key states.

But Gallego also noted the positives from the midterm elections, including that election deniers running for positions as secretaries of state and governorships across the country all lost, while Adrian Fontes in Arizona and Cisco Aguilar in Nevada both defeated election deniers to become secretaries of state in pivotal southwest swing states.

"It's a good sign, but it means we were able to stave them off this cycle," he warned. "We need to worry about next cycle. We need to worry about a lot of things."

Gallego, who once told Newsweek that in the chaos of the January 6 attack he wished for his weapon and his Marines around him, has thought a lot about what happened that day. As time passes, he feels some of his hunches in the moment ended up coming to fruition.

"What I initially felt the day of was that a lot of things were conspiring against us," he recalled. "Now, with more information, I feel there was an actual conspiracy for a true coup."

Gallego said that while he's "proud of how Democrats reacted, returning to the floor to [certify the election and ] save democracy," he argued that there has been "a failure" by the Department of Justice in taking action to punish those responsible.

A key person seen as responsible in the eyes of the Democratic-led, bipartisan January 6th House select committee is former President Donald Trump, whom it accused of four crimes in its final December report, including allegations that he "oversaw" the effort to legitimize false slates of electors in seven states he lost, despite his lawyers advising him that could be illegal.

"That evidence has led to an overriding and straight-forward conclusion," the report states. "The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him."

Democrats fear that the matter of Trump's actions in and around January 6 is not just an issue of the past, but one that could affect the country's future, as the former president announced a new presidential run at the end of last year.

Gallego said that if the Department of Justice is not going to do anything, then it will be the responsibility of voters to prove "there is no profit from electing people like Donald Trump."

"I hope if he runs we beat him soundly to prove democracy is something we want to vote for," Gallego added.

While stories in the wake of the attack described Gallego as having performed heroically, staying calm and helping his frightened colleagues get to safety as rioters overwhelmed police and broke into the Capitol, he has been in the news recently for a different reason.

With Senator Kyrsten Sinema's surprising decision to leave the Democratic Party and become an independent ahead of what would have been a difficult Democratic primary, public and private moves have indicated Gallego is nearing a decision to challenge her Senate seat in 2024.

He has brought on the Democratic polling firm GBAO Strategies for a "leadership role" in his potential bid, Politico reported, and allies say he will likely make a final decision this month.

Gallego told MSNBC that after Christmas he was going to "listen to the constituents of Arizona" to help figure out his future plans.

Asked by Newsweek about a possible campaign against Sinema, Gallego made clear that he is moving in that direction.

"I said we would make a decision in 2023 and we're in 2023," he said, "and we will be making announcements as soon as we think we should and we can."