Representative Peter Meijer (R-MI) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Republicans are “playing into” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) hands by rejecting legislation to create a commission to investigate the January 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol.
Anchor Dana Bash said, “You made clear, as you just did, that this attack needs to be investigated for the good of the country. So, given that your party is standing in the way of the bipartisan, independent commission that you so want, do you think Democrats should create a select committee at the very least to investigate?”
Meijer said, “I would like to see how it’s actually structured. I don’t have a tremendous amount of confidence that Congress is going to be able to objectively examine something it played a role in. I think this was the hope of having an independent commission that would be external, that would have individuals who no longer had political aspirations that were outside of our current tension and moment. But, frankly, by shooting down this proposal that looks like may be dead on arrival in the Senate, by shooting this down, we’re playing into Speaker Pelosi’s hands. She doesn’t want a commission that’s going to be emphasizing what she knew and when, what security lapses may have occurred, what failures there were in responsiveness to the events that have a day that allowed the security barrier to fall. She doesn’t want that. She doesn’t want a commission that has a mandate to end by December 31st, 2021. She wants a commission that she can drag out into 2024, and that’s what we’re handing here. She is being given the tacit ability to run that forward.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN