The thing is, Republicans never put politics aside, and it’s bad for their partisan interests for the public to know the truth of what happened. For that reason among others, she’s right that they don’t deserve to have the jobs they do.
That starts with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is opposed to an independent bipartisan investigation into what he called a “disgrace” and “terrorism,” acknowledging that Donald Trump was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.” But what’s more important to McConnell is that, as he told Republicans at a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, a commission could hurt Republicans in the 2022 elections. Truth does not enter in. It’s just a question of what helps or hurts Republicans.
Republicans have repeatedly changed their arguments against a Jan. 6 commission, which means it’s not worth looking at any of those arguments in any detail at this point. Whatever they’re saying at any given moment isn’t true, and we know it isn’t true both because of how they keep moving the goalposts and because of what McConnell is saying in private. And because, exactly in line with what McConnell is saying in private, Republicans have very good reasons for wanting to block an investigation into something that will make not just Donald Trump but the entire Republican Party look very, very bad.
The commission needs 10 Republican votes in the Senate, and it’s not looking likely to get them. So far, just two Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney, have said they support a commission, while Sen. Susan Collins is claiming to support the idea of one, using that claim to try to water down a bill that already represents a massive compromise by Democrats even as she lays the groundwork to vote no.
There’s no guarantee Republicans will even talk to Gladys Sicknick. When D.C. Metro Police officer Michael Fanone asked to meet with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to talk about his experience fighting the Capitol insurrection and show McCarthy his body camera footage, he was rejected. In fact, McCarthy’s staff hung up on him. Will the mother of a fallen officer get a more welcoming reception from Republicans than a traumatized and injured officer did?
