Lisa Murkowski Comes Out In Favor Of Investigating Trump’s Insurrection

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has revealed that she is supporting a bill to create an independent commission to investigate the riot at the Capitol in January, when Trump supporters stormed the premises in an attempt to violently stop the formal certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. It remains unclear whether the bill to create that commission will pass the Senate. Murkowski is the second Senate Republican, after Mitt Romney (Utah), to indicate that they’re in favor of the bill, but a total of ten Republicans would need to back the legislation in order to block a planned filibuster and move to a final vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has vocally advocated for the creation of the riot commission. On Monday in the Senate, he commented as follows:

‘The formation of the commission is more important now than it’s ever been. In the months since January 6, Washington Republicans have tried to rewrite history and recast the attack of January 6 as little more than peaceful protests that got out of hand.’

It’s true — during a recent Congressional hearing, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) even compared what took place at the Capitol to a “normal tourist visit,” which is obviously way off-base. So-called normal tourist visits don’t include violent assaults on scores of police officers, like what unfolded back in January.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) — both of whom, like Murkowski and Romney, voted in favor of convicting Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection after the Capitol riot — have both said that they’re interested in supporting the creation of a commission but want to see changes to the bill that would create the body. That bill was already passed by the House with the support of 35 Republicans in that chamber, although House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said he’s opposed to the effort. McCarthy complained that the commission wouldn’t be examining separate instances of political violence that have no substantive relationship to the Capitol riot.