Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended her proposal to create a Democratic-majority commission to examine the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, arguing it was necessary to ensure the panel focused on the rise in white supremacy and other forms of domestic terrorism.
“We are focused now on finding the truth,” the California Democrat told reporters in the Capitol Thursday. “We have a domestic terrorism challenge in this country. Domestic violence is taking more lives than international violence in this country and the biggest number since [the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing].”
Pelosi criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who on Wednesday rejected her riot commission proposal as “partisan by design.” The panel, under the Democratic draft, would include seven Democrats and four Republicans.
Pelosi dismissed concerns that the panel is not split evenly as lawmakers in both parties have proposed and said Democrats need the majority to ensure the panel does not simply focus on the attack and security problems at the Capitol.
McConnell on Wednesday warned that expanding the investigation beyond Jan. 6 would include a politically slanted examination of violent groups that would leave out many violent left-wing demonstrations that have taken place across the country.
Pelosi, on Thursday, rejected a broader examination of violent groups and said the commission should focus on the pro-Trump groups behind the Jan. 6 attack.
“No, we have a domestic terrorism challenge in this country,” Pelosi said. “The biggest buckets under that category of domestic violence are white supremacy, anti-Semitism, and other lists of xenophobia and Islamophobia, etc.”
Pelosi Thursday accused McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, of supporting statements by Sen. Ron Johnson, who downplayed the severity of the Jan. 6 attack and said it included participation from members of the far-Left antifa group acting as Trump supporters.
“Ron Johnson seems to be taking the lead on what the scope would be of how we are protecting our country from domestic terrorism,” Pelosi said, accusing McConnell of an effort “to make light of” the causes that led to the attack.
Pelosi initially confused Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, with the star of the 1980s television series Miami Vice.
“Is his first name Don?” Pelosi asked, laughing when reporters corrected her. “Not Miami Vice or anything like that.”
