Jake Tapper Picks Apart the GOP’s Excuses for Opposing 1/6 Commission: They Rejected it Based on ‘Naked Political Fear’

CNN’s Jake Tapper excoriated Republicans making excuses for their decision to oppose the creation of a 1/6 commission.

Several Republicans joined Democrats on a procedural vote Friday over the commission, but it fell short of 60 votes and failed.

Alisyn Camerota asked Tapper, “Hw can they ever with a straight face again say they support the police?”

Tapper went into some of the explanations for opposing it, and said the Democrats “gave in to every single one of” Kevin McCarthy’s early requests for the commission.

After the House vote, joined by 35 Republicans, some GOP senators still decried the commission for being too partisan. Tapper noted an amendment offered by Susan Collins and said, “That problem is really off the table. If you have a problem with how the commission is going to be made up, Democrats basically acceded to every Republican demand.”

“So you can’t with a straight face say, ‘Well, we thought the commission was going to be unfair.’ It doesn’t make any sense,” Tapper said.

Victor Blackwell brought up the political dimension of this and the calculations Republicans are making about the risks of backing the commission versus oppsing it.

Tapper said, “You can’t say, ‘Well, we’re really afraid of the truth and what this bipartisan commission’s going to find and whether or not those facts have voters expressing disapproval with us.’ That’s not a principle, that’s just a naked political fear.”

As for the political considerations at play, Tapper said one calculation going on is that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will create a select commission that “will be seen as more partisan, and thus the conclusions will be more dismissible as just Democrats making hay.”

You can watch above, via CNN.