A retiring Democratic congresswoman from New Hampshire said Donald Trump "tried to kill me once" during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot and emphasized she won't be around for another attempt.
Rep. Annie Kuster, 68, said she made the decision partly because of the president-elect's return to the White House, noting that "I'm just not the best gladiator for it right now.":
"I've said somewhat facetiously, he tried to kill me once, I'm not available for that again," Kuster told the Boston Globe.
"What we went through on Jan. 6 and his attempt to overthrow the government took a toll. That was really hard, and not just personally, but on my ability to work across the aisle," she said in the interview published Thursday.
Kuster, first elected to Congress in 2012, said she was in the House chamber when the pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol and managed to escape with other lawmakers before the crowd made it to the corridor they had fled through moments before.
She said she now finds Congress to be less productive and more polarized.
Recent events have proven to her that her decision to step away was the right choice, recalling how Elon Musk, the world's richest man and adviser to Trump, scuttled a bipartisan spending bill last week to keep the government open.
"I've never waited so long for one last vote," Kuster said, referring to the legislative standstill as Republican leaders weighed their next step.
"[It's] a big part of the reason to leave. ... There's a theme developing when billionaires make decisions about hard-working families' lives, it comes out just mean. It's cold hearted," she said.
Kuster, who announced her retirement in March, also delivered a parting shot to President Joe Biden.
"I'm trying to set a better example," Kuster told the publication. "I think there are colleagues — and some of whom are still very successful and very productive — but others who just stay forever."
She said she began to question whether Biden would be able to defeat Trump a second time when she traveled with the president on Air Force One in March.
"Just in my heart, [I] reached the conclusion that this would be a very challenging campaign for him, and to put himself out there for another four-year term was going to be a struggle," she said on the 81-year-old Biden.
While Biden was coherent, she said he spoke "very softly" and the effects of his advanced age were apparent.
"It was hard for me at that time, like, What can one person do?" Kuster said. "You know, I did talk with people about [it] and talked with the campaign, it's just hard to know looking back on it."
Originally published in International Business Times
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