House Democrats move to censure insurrectionist House Republicans

| 11:00 pm EDT May 15, 2021
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Democrat Bennie Thompson announced Friday an agreement was reached with the top Republican in the House Homeland Security Committee he chairs, for legislation creating a commission to investigate Jan. 6th.

Kevin McCarthy expressed skepticism about it, accusing Pelosi of trying to politicize the matter for months. (The fact is she did not try to politicize it but just wants the truth to come out, while McCarthy knows that will hurt him politically.)

Democrats countered that Republicans just want to move on and forget what happened. They point to members like Louie Gohmert (R. Tex), who falsely downplayed the Jan. 6th events on Friday, saying, “there have been things worse than people without any firearms coming into a building.”

The legislation is expected to pass the House, but its chances in the Senate are unknown. It’s purpose is to reveal the truth of what happened in order to protect the Capitol in the future, similar to the 9/11 commission.

House Rep. David Cicilline (D. – R.I.) is trying a quicker way to point out false statements about Jan. 6th. He sent a letter to House colleagues asking them to censure House Republicans Andrew Clyde (Ga.) Jody Hice (Ga.), and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) who “dangerously mischaracterized” Jan. 6th. “These members cannot be allowed to rewrite history at their convenience by disrespecting the sacrifices made by Capitol police officers and downplaying the violent, destructive intent that the rioters carried into the sacred building.” WaPo reports Gohmert could be added. (I guess it’s too much to ask that McCarthy be added for revising his own statements.) Previous resolutions to censure Gohmert and Mo Brooks for claiming the election was stolen went nowhere.

WaPo reports it’s unclear whether Cicilline’s efforts will go anywhere, although his point is not so much to censure them as to set the record straight. I would think you could easily be censored for falsely testifying at a House hearing, but what do I know? (Republicans regularly censure their own just for telling the truth or doing what’s right.)

Last Wednesday, Clyde testified the mob attack was like a “normal tourist visit” to the Capitol, and “to call it an insurrection, in my opinion, is a bold-faced lie.”

Hice made false assertions trying to distance Trump from responsibility, and claimed since Trump supporters died, they couldn’t have caused it. Gosar tried to paint the perpetrators as victims who were attacked by Capitol police and are still being attacked by the justice system. Fortunately, there’s tons of video evidence.