How the Capitol Riot Commission Died
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2021
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After the Capitol riot on January 6th, Republicans proposed a bipartisan commission to investigate what took place as an alternative to impeaching then-President Trump. But last Friday, Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell killed the bill to establish that commission.
Why was the bipartisan commission dead on arrival? And is there a way for an investigation to move forward without one?
Guest: Jim Newell, senior politics writer at Slate.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you ask Slate's Jim Newell, what happened last week with that vote to establish a bipartisan |
| 0:10.3 | commission to investigate the January 6th riot? |
| 0:13.5 | He's got two words for you, Mitch McConnell. |
| 0:17.5 | Making sure there weren't 10 Republicans willing to vote for this, I think took a lot of effort |
| 0:23.4 | from Mitch McConnell in a way he really hasn't had to exert himself in a while. |
| 0:30.8 | How did you know that? |
| 0:32.2 | Like, how did you see that? |
| 0:33.6 | So, you know, there was some reporting that Mitch McConnell had to call in a few personal favors |
| 0:38.7 | with Republicans to get them to actually vote against this. |
| 0:42.0 | So, you know, I think if McConnell wasn't trying to stop this, you know, it very easily |
| 0:47.9 | could have gotten 10 Republican senators. |
| 0:53.2 | In the end, the commission got six Republican votes. |
| 0:58.2 | That's for short of what it needed to overcome a legislative filibuster and overcome the Senate |
| 1:03.5 | minority leader. |
| 1:05.4 | For a while, it seemed like the commission had real momentum behind it. |
| 1:09.7 | 35 Republicans voted for it in the House. |
| 1:12.2 | Swing senators like Susan Collins and Mitt Romney started signaling their support. |
| 1:17.3 | Police who responded on January 6th, and relatives of one officer who died, began knocking on Republican doors, asking for votes. |
| 1:26.0 | We want answers. |
| 1:27.5 | And nobody has the answers. |
| 1:30.0 | And it's just sad. |
| 1:32.6 | Sandra Garza, the longtime companion of Brian Sicknick, |
... |
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