‘Never be forgotten’: Rep. Andy Kim donates suit worn after Capitol attack to Smithsonian exhibit

The blue suit Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., wore while cleaning up the damage after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in January will become a part of a Smithsonian exhibit.

Suited for history: Kim announced he would be donating the suit to the museum for its exhibit on the day a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, CNN reported.

Kim was in his office across the street for six hours and was not able to check the Capitol until after the House officially finalized the presidential election result near midnight, reported The Washington Post.
When Kim finally saw the damage in person, he immediately got involved in cleaning up the mess that the rioters left.
“When I walked into the Capitol, I saw a really disgraceful scene of just, you know, trash everywhere and broken furniture. That’s when I started to clean up,” Kim told CNN. “I saw myself that night as a caretaker for our democracy and as a result of a caretaker for the Capitol.”
Kim picked up trash for hours in an attempt to restore the Capitol to its previous condition.
“I didn’t want the sunrise over the next morning on a broken Congress and a Capitol that was left in that type of condition,” he told Today.

The unremarkable suit: Kim shared in a Twitter thread when the Smithsonian asked him to donate the suit, the representative thought about how “unremarkable” both the suit he bought from “JCrew during a holiday sale” and his cleaning efforts were.

According to Kim, he just wanted to wear a bright blue new suit to Biden’s inauguration, but the rioters had other plans.
He didn’t find his clean-up noteworthy as he merely “wanted to right the wrongs of that day as quickly and as tangibly” as he could.
Kim wore the blue suit for the last time on Jan. 13 while casting his vote for impeachment against Trump.
He considered throwing the suit away but decided to keep it after seeing the impact of the blue suit on the thousands of people who expressed support in what he did.
“When the Smithsonian requested the suit, I tried to imagine what an exhibit about Jan6 would look like,” he tweeted. “Perhaps it would have broken glass from shattered doors, torn flags and signs. Video of the mob trying to hijack our democracy. But there was so much more to that day.”

Featured Image via Andy Kim

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