WASHINGTON — “Fear of Donald Trump” and a desire to hold on to power is “overriding patriotism” within the Republican Party, a Democratic lawmaker said Sunday.
Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” two days after Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have created a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the former president.
Friday’s 54-35 vote was short of the 60 needed to start debate on the measure. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and Trump himself rallied most Republicans to oppose the probe.
Former Virginia GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock said that commission or not, “we will get to the truth” about the Jan. 6 events.
“When people try and hold these things back, it always comes out in the end. That’s why I think both for the country, as well as for Republicans, it would be better to do it sooner rather than later,” she said on “Meet the Press.”
Yet Crow, a former Army Ranger and a manager at Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020, said that some parts of the investigation could only be completed successfully with authority that goes beyond what current probes — for example, by the Government Accountability Office — have available.
“We really need to know what was Donald Trump doing in the hours before the riot? What was he talking to or telling his advisers?” he said. Crow said either a bipartisan commission or a select committee with subpoena power could “uniquely” reach a conclusion.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said the party is considering its next steps after Friday’s Senate vote.
“We have a caucus meeting on Tuesday. I look forward to hearing from the speaker, as well as the members, as to what comes next,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
While Trump continues to tease a run for the White House in 2024, Comstock said that many in the party want to move on.
“If Donald Trump disappeared tomorrow, I don’t think you’d have many Republicans in the search party,” she said. “Maybe a few prosecutors, but not Republicans.”
