Confusion in the U.S. Capitol: The hearing is small to change the minds of Trump loyalists

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The Republican Rep. Denied. Louie Gohmert of Texas held the notion that lawmakers downplayed the uprising, only saying he thought it was an exaggeration to promote the uprising as the worst attack since the Civil War.

“I don’t know of anyone who has tried to deduct this other than, you know, their exorbitant attacks on democracy since the Civil War. As Christopher Wray said, it’s hard for us to be here for 9/11 to say ‘Yes, it’s worse than 9/11,’ ”Gohmert said Tuesday, explaining testimony from the FBI director in June in which he denied the comparison between Jan. 6 and 9 /11. At that hearing, Wray called the insurrection “a very significant attack on its own right” and an “effort to disrupt a key part of our constitutional system and the peaceful transition of government.”

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told CNN that he “condemned the violence” that took place on Jan. 6, but he also tried to say that there were peaceful protesters that day.

“There were thousands of people that day who were cooperating in the peaceful protest. There were several hundred who committed acts of violence.”

GOP Rep. Said. Paul Gosar of Arizona told CNN that the select committee hearing on Tuesday “was not bipartisan.” The committee features seven Democrats and two Republicans.

The Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, who compared scenes from Jan. 6 to “a normal tourist visit,” told CNN that “I haven’t heard anything yet” when asked if he watched the hearing or if the officers’ testimony changed of his mind about how he had characterized the former in the excitement. Clyde also traded with Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, at a separate hearing Tuesday night on what he said was a “tourist”, but Clyde refused to retract his statement. Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana told ABC News, “What we’ve experienced is a security breach at the highest level of law enforcement. We didn’t have an armed attack on the Capitol. We had a security breach. And that’s what we have to focus on, make sure it doesn’t happen again. “

GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas responded by saying, “I think this hearing is about knowing about what really happened that day. I think this hearing is about posting for the 2022 election. . “

And on the same day the select committee held its first hearing, Reps. Gohmert, Gosar, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Andy Biggs of Arizona, who led the charge to overturn the election results in Congress, held news conferences outside the Department of Justice trying to discuss the treatment of “prisoners” on Jan. 6 – an event deemed Democratic as evidence of Republicans hanging on to police rioters.

The fact that Trump acolytes continued to minimize events on Jan. 6 is not surprising given that the former President himself defined the rioters as a “loving crowd” and recently blamed the violence on protesters of Black Lives Matter and antifa.

The wave of whitewashing that continues its course through the GOP underscores why select committee members said this investigation was so important. By centering their first hearing on the stories of officers who served that day and showing video of what happened, committee members made Tuesday’s public hearing an opportunity to have holes in the wrong. claims made by some Republicans that the protest was peaceful or that the rebels were unarmed.

“I want to know what happened that day, but more importantly, I want all Americans to trust the work this Committee is doing and get the facts out there, without conspiracy,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of two Republicans who will serve on the select committee, said in his opening statement.

The Republican attempt to rewrite history also threatens to undermine the carefully coordinated messaging strategy launched by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and his top allies, who want to focus on security failures in Capitol on Jan. 6 without admitting shocking testimony from four police officers about the attacks they experienced that day.

Keeping Republicans identified as anti-police, GOP leaders began a conference Tuesday morning-designed to counterprogram the committee’s selected hearing-by thanking police for protecting them every day. They then blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the lack of security and what police officers experienced on Jan. 6, even though she was not responsible for day-to-day security operations.

“Capitol Police should not be placed in this position,” McCarthy said. “They should have the resources, the training, the equipment. They shouldn’t be confined to a bus far away. We shouldn’t have an arm sergeant waiting to ask for a political answer when it comes to the need for reinforcements. .Especially if you knew weeks in advance. “

Despite the GOP’s widespread praise for the police, many Republicans from across the conference said they did not watch the hearing with law enforcement officials.

Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, a staunch Trump supporter and one of the architects of the GOP plan to oppose the presidential election results on the House floor, told reporters Tuesday afternoon, “I haven’t watched it. I know what happened. “

Even McCarthy said he didn’t watch the hearing because he was stuck in a “back to back meeting.”

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of the Republicans whose Pelosi was denied a seat on the select committee, said he only watched “part” of the hearing on Tuesday but he didn’t watch “that much” because he was busy with another hearing. . .

Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas, who was one of McCarthy’s initial selections to serve on the select committee, said he watched the entire hearing in his office, and he rejected the notion that any of his colleagues were trying to cut or whitewash what happened. on Jan. 6 in light of the hearing

“You don’t have Republicans here who think they’re lowering it,” Nehls said. “It’s absolutely awful.”

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