Moments after President Biden concluded his first speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, he was greeted by lawmakers aiming to get in some coveted face time with the president. Among them was Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-Tex.), who helped barricade the entrance of the House Chamber during the insurrection Jan. 6 but still voted to overturn the election that Biden won.
But in a brief exchange Wednesday night, Nehls, wearing a Texas-flag mask, introduced himself to Biden as “a sheriff from Texas” and offered his experience policing Fort Bend County to help with the president’s efforts on criminal justice reform.
“I want to help with the criminal justice reform. I want to be a part of it. It’s needed,” he said to the president. “I don’t know how to reach out to you, but I have the experience.”
In response, Biden assured him they’d be in touch, saying, “I’ll reach out to you.”
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Tex.): I want to help with the criminal justice reform. I want to be part of that. So I don’t know how to reach out to you, but I have the experience.
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) April 29, 2021
President Biden: I’ll reach out to you. pic.twitter.com/mTsMotxubl
The 45-second exchange came after Biden repeated his support for policing reform and urged Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act by the first anniversary of Floyd’s slaying next month. Biden has pressed lawmakers to bring legislation to his desk by May 25 that would ban chokeholds, prohibit racial and religious profiling, establish a national database to track police misconduct and bar certain no-knock warrants.
His renewed vow to pass the legislation came at a crucial point in policing in the United States, after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder last week in Floyd’s killing.
“We have all seen the knee of injustice on the neck of Black America,” Biden said, referencing Floyd’s death and the racial justice protests that unfolded last year.
A White House official told The Washington Post on Thursday that Biden “appreciated Rep. Nehls’s offer and their conversation.”
“And we are following up with the congressman,” the official said.
A representative with Nehls’s office did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Nehls’s path to Washington began in the Houston area in the mid-1990s, where he was dismissed by the police department in Richmond, Tex., for reasons that included destruction of evidence. A decorated service member of 21 years, Nehls served in the Army during the Iraq War and was elected constable in Fort Bend County while he was deployed; Nehls was later the county’s sheriff for eight years.
He raised eyebrows in 2017 when the sheriff threatened to charge a driver with disorderly conduct because of a profanity-laced anti-Trump sticker. His suggestion of arrest raised alarm among free-speech advocates, and the sheriff walked back his statement. Nehls again faced scrutiny in supporting Donald Trump’s decision to deploy federal forces in cities with racial justice protests in the days after Floyd’s killing.
During last year’s GOP primary for an open seat in Congress, Nehls painted himself as a fierce Trump advocate. Texas Monthly reported that he stated on his campaign website how he would “stand with President Trump to defeat the socialist Democrats, build the wall, drain the swamp, and deliver on pro-economy and pro-America policies.”
After he secured the nomination, Nehls pivoted to a more moderate approach for the general election, focusing on health care and criminal justice reform. He also removed the “Standing with Trump” section from his website as Trump’s approval among Republicans was waning, according to the Houston Chronicle. He went on to defeat his Democratic opponent, Sri Preston Kulkarni, by seven percentage points in November.
Nehls, who was pictured with his daughter Tori in the Capitol Rotunda when he was sworn in, did not take long to make his presence known. On Jan. 5, he announced he would be among the 147 congressional Republicans who would object to the electoral college results, in which Biden defeated Trump.
Then, the riot happened. The same place where the new congressman posed with his young daughter just days before was flooded with MAGA hats, Trump flags and people documenting themselves committing crimes.
Inside the House Chamber, Nehls found himself standing beside police as they blocked the entrance from the pro-Trump rioters seeking to disrupt the certification of the electoral college. “What I’m witnessing is a disgrace. We’re better than this,” he tweeted the afternoon of Jan. 6. “Violence is NEVER the answer.”
I was proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Capitol police barricading entrance to our sacred House chamber, while trying to calm the situation talking to protestors.
— Troy Nehls (@SheriffTNehls) January 6, 2021
What I’m witnessing is a disgrace. We’re better than this. Violence is NEVER the answer.
Law and order! pic.twitter.com/SgN2F8YGIS
Despite the riot, Nehls still voted against certifying the results of Biden’s win, pointing to the false claims of voter fraud that were pushed by Trump in the weeks after the election and repeatedly defeated in court.
On Wednesday night, Nehls tweeted during the speech about the president’s handling of the southern border and slammed Democrats for reportedly handing out masks in the Chamber that were made in China. But in their exchange on criminal justice reform, Nehls took on a much different tone than the one he used on Twitter.
“I don’t want to hurt your reputation,” the president said to Nehls of his offer, according to video of the moment.
Before Biden went to talk to another lawmaker, Nehls made his final plea: “I can do a whole lot of good in that conversation.”
Reis Thebault contributed to this report.
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