Republican congressman Rep. Fred Upton, in remarks ahead of the vote on the 1/6 commission, said that without the Capitol and Metro police acting courageously during the January 6 Capitol breach, there’s no telling how many member of Congress might have been “swinging on those gallows” that were constructed outside the building that day.
Upton is one of a few GOP representatives who has made clear he supports the commission, and in his floor remarks commended the formation being done in a bipartisan way.
He said that we still, five months later, don’t know answers to “the basic questions” such as “who knew what, when, what did they do about it?”
He thanked his colleagues Rep. John Katko (R) and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D) for doing a “really good job on working together to establish a bipartisan commission.”
“You know, hundreds of people were arrested. People died,” he said. “Millions of dollars of damage to this building, feces spread on the walls, and yes, the very core of democracy, this institution was threatened.
“I wasn’t in the Chamber that day when the breach was attempted, but I heard the shouts, saw the flash bangs, smelled the gas on that sorry day,” he continued. “If it had not been for the brave Capitol and Metro Police men and women that day, who knows how many of our heads would have
“We need the answers, not political rhetoric. That’s what this bipartisan commission can provide for all of us, for our country,” he said. “Let the truth shine in.”
Watch the clip above, via C-SPAN.