A last-minute Democratic effort to drum up support for a Jan. 6 investigative commission caused a brief stir on Capitol Hill on Wednesday when Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) released a letter from unnamed Capitol Police officers attacking GOP leaders for their opposition to the bill launching the probe. The anonymous letter on official Capitol Police letterhead was sent to congressional offices shortly before the House voted to approve the.
Blocking the bill would undoubtedly generate negative headlines for the GOP and put Republicans in the awkward position of opposing a commission to probe an insurrection many of them have already condemned.
A months-long commission, which Republicans fear would stretch past its year-end deadline, would keep Jan. 6 in the spotlight as the midterms draw near. GOP lawmakers are warning that it would risk keeping them off message when much of the party is eager to talk about almost anything besides the deadly attack.
“I want our midterm message to be .jobs and wages and the economy, and national security and safe streets … and not religitating the 2020 election,” said Sen. John Thune
Even calling it an insurrection, it wasn t, Johnson said during an appearance on Fox News s Ingraham Angle. You know, I condemned the breach. I condemned the violence, but to say there were thousands of armed insurrectionists breaching the Capitol intent on overthrowing the government is just simply false narrative.
Johnson said he has spoken to some of his constituents in Wisconsin that were present at a Stop the Steal rally on the National Mall and at the U.S. Capitol that day.
ADVERTISEMENT By and large, it was peaceful protest, except for there were a number of people, basically agitators that whipped the crowd and breached the Capitol. That s really the truth of what s happening here, Johnson said.
The attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 was an unprecedented assault on our democracy, Psaki said at a press briefing. It demands a full and independent investigation into what happened. This is not a political issue in the president s view, this is a question of how we secure our democracy and the rule of law. So it’s incredibly disappointing to see how many representatives have opted to turn this into a political issue instead of doing what’s right.
Psaki would not weigh in on whether the White House would support moving forward on some type of investigation with only Democratic support.