‘Donald Trump’s Big Lie Has Now Fully Enveloped the Republican Party’: Schumer Excoriates GOP for Voting Down 1/6 Commission
After Senate Republicans defeated a motion to begin debate on a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tore into his colleagues across the aisle.
In a scathing speech on the Senate floor moments after the motion failed — with only six republicans crossing party lines to support it — Schumer excoriated Senate Republicans for what he deemed to be an act carried out in service of former President Donald Trump.
“[O]ut of fear or fealty to Donald Trump, the Republican minority just prevented the American people from getting the full truth about January 6th,” Schumer said. He added, “Donald Trump’s Big Lie has now fully enveloped the Republican party. Trump’s Big Lie is now the defining principle of what was once the party of Lincoln.”
Schumer went on to call out the GOP for what he sees as baseless opposition to the commission, and added that the real reason for their obstructive stance boils down to pure politics.
“I’ve heard all the excuses why Republicans are opposing this bill,” Schumer said. “‘It’s too early. Goes on too long. It’s not needed.’ Almost all of these excuses are meritless, and were invented in the past two weeks. We all know what’s going on here. Senate Republicans chose to defend the Big Lie because they believe anything that might upset Donald Trump could hurt them politically.”
The majority leader went on to revisit the Capitol riot, in a belated moral appeal to Senate Republicans.
“We’ve all lived through the horrors of January 6th,” Schumer said. “I was no further than 30 feet from those white supremacist hooligans. Do my Republican colleagues remember that day? Do my Republican colleagues remember the savage mob calling for the execution of Mike Pence? The makeshift gallows outside the Capitol? Men with bullet proof vests and zip ties breaking into the Senate gallery, and rifling through your desks. Police officers crushed between doorways.
“Shame on the Republican party for trying to sweep the horrors of that day under the rug because they’re afraid of Donald Trump!”
Watch above, via CNN.
