PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey congressman Andy Kim has made a donation to the Smithsonian: the suit he wore while cleaning the U.S. Capitol in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot.
The moment went viral: Kim was pictured throwing away trash and debris inside the Capitol shortly after pro-Trump supporters ransacked the building.
“When you see something you love that’s broken, you want to fix it,” he said at the time. “What else could I do?”
In an extensive series of tweets on Tuesday, Kim said he donated the suit he wore that day to the Smithsonian for a future exhibit on the insurrection.
“Jan6 must never be forgotten,” he wrote. “While some try to erase history, I will fight to tell the story so it never happens again.”
Kim wore the blue J.Crew suit — bought off the rack during a holiday sale, he noted — on Jan. 6 and then again on Jan. 13, when he voted to impeach President Donald Trump.
“The suit still had dust on the knees from Jan 6,” he wrote. “I wore it so I would have no doubt about the truth of what happened.”
Following the viral photos of Kim cleaning up the Capitol, he received thousands of messages from people across the country who told him his actions and that blue suit meant something to them: It represented “a sense of resilience and hope,” he said.
The Smithsonian requested the suit later that month.
“I tried to imagine what an exhibit about Jan6 would look like. 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,” Kim wrote.
“The story of that day wasn’t just destruction. There was hope and resilience. The Capitol Police were heroes that saved lives. Colleagues and staff showed bravery. I hope those stories are told. They help tell a story of light on one of the darkest days in our democracy.
“Smithsonian is entrusted to help tell the story of America. It isn’t always a pretty story, but it is an unfinished story with the persistent hope that it will improve and that we can repair our faults.”