It’s not what Rep. Conor Lamb had originally planned to say to his fellow U.S. House members.

But Lamb’s “the truth hurts” speech early Thursday caused a stir on the House floor, with some Republican congressmen rushing toward the Democrats in a pique of anger.Lamb, a Democrat from Mt. Lebanon, reacted with indignation to some Republicans’ objections to the certification of the presidential vote in Pennsylvania.

“These objections don’t deserve an ounce of respect, not an ounce. A woman died out there tonight, and you’re making these objections,” Lamb said, referring to the attack on the Capitol that took place Wednesday.

Lamb went on to say the attack “was inspired by lies — the same lies you’re hearing in this room tonight. And the members who are repeating those lies should be ashamed of themselves; their constituents should be ashamed of them.”

Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia then asked to have Lamb’s remarks stricken from the record, to which Lamb responded “The truth hurts, it hurts. It hurts them, it hurts this country, it hurts all of us.”

In an interview with the Tribune-­Review on Thursday, Lamb said he had prepared an entirely different speech, but Wednesday afternoon’s violence changed that.

“We were preparing to deal with these objections to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes before the Capitol was invaded, and I planned to just come in there and play the prosecutor like I knew how to be,” Lamb said.

“Then when the invasion of the Capitol happened and these (House Republicans) decided to still continue their objections after that, that was the point where I just didn’t think it was about the evidence anymore,” Lamb said. “I couldn’t be honest without saying to them that we all knew it was about something much deeper and darker. And they need to be shown that.”

Lamb said it was a hard thing for him to do.

“I didn’t want to say that they were lying,” Lamb said. “But I just couldn’t shake the fact that I thought it would be dishonest of me not to do it, and the stakes were so high after we saw what happened. I just continued to feel outraged.

“Our Capitol was attacked yesterday, and that was what I was still feeling and what I’m still feeling right now. That part (of the speech) was mostly from the heart.”

During Lamb’s remarks, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., and Colin Allred, D-Texas, got into a shouting match after Harris starting moving toward Lamb.

“My friend and colleague Colin Allred, who used to be an NFL linebacker for the Tennessee Titans, stood up and blocked the path of (Harris) who was coming over our way and the guy backed down — which was probably a smart move on his part.”

Lamb said he wants people to know that he is channeling his anger “into a deeper commitment to do our job and to make (Congress) work regardless of what people throw at it.”

GOP congressmen react

The group of Republican colleagues Lamb was targeting with his comments included three with districts in Western Pennsylvania: John Joyce, Mike Kelly and Guy Reschenthaler. They were among eight Keystone State congressmen who, following the riots, refused to back off objections to Pennsylvania’s Nov. 3 election — the same one in which they each were reelected.

Their opposition, however, only delayed but did not stop the certification of the state’s Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden.

The House, by a vote of 303-121, rejected the objection to counting Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes. The Senate rejected a similar objection regarding Arizona 93-6.

About 3:45 a.m. Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence announced Biden as winner of the presidential election, defeating Trump 306-232.

Attempts to reach Reschenthaler, a Peters Township Republican, have been unsuccessful for two days.

Joyce, whose district includes the eastern part of Westmoreland County, issued a statement Thursday condemning the violence and saying he was “deeply saddened by the unlawful attacks on the U.S. Capitol.”

Following the attacks on Wednesday night, Joyce said he objected to certifying Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes for Biden because the state allowed mail-in ballots postmarked by election day to be received up to three days later and over what he called signature verification issues involving mail-in ballots.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in September issued a ruling allowing counties to accept ballots up to three days late, as long as they were postmarked on time.

“My heart is heavy as we consider the dark acts that transpired in this institution today,” Joyce said on the House floor. “… This has always been about upholding the law. It has always been about protecting government ‘of, by, and for the people.’ Preserving the rule of law is more important than ever. We must acknowledge that unconstitutional acts unduly impacted the presidential election in Pennsylvania.”

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