CNN’s Jamie Gangel Reports on Internal GOP Turmoil Over 1/6 Commission: ‘Furious’ at McConnell ‘Suppressing the Vote’
The House of Representatives is set to vote Wednesday on establishing the January 6 commission, and there’s already reports of some tension among congressional Republicans.
The House Homeland Security Committee reached a bipartisan agreement on the commission, and Republican ranking member John Katko has publicly defended the deal. House GOP leadership, however, has denounced the bill and recommended members vote against it.
The Hill reported Tuesday on the turmoil inside the GOP, with one House Republican saying, “Katko feels like he’s been thrown under the bus.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear to members he opposes the bill to form the commission, and CNN’s Jamie Gangel reported Wednesday that some House Republicans are “furious.”
She said on air Wednesday that Republicans in favor of the commission were encouraged the night previous and believed there would be a “jailbreak.”
“I’m guessing that two people heard about that. One was Mitch McConnell, the other was Donald Trump,” Gangel said.
Trump, surprising no one, put out a statement railing against the commission to look into the rioting at the Capitol by a mob of his own supporters riled up by his months of stirring up false claims about the 2020 election.
Gangel brought up McConnell’s comments earlier Wednesday saying he opposes the commission, and added, “The Republican sources in the House that I have spoken to are furious with him, because they feel it is suppressing the vote even before it’s taken.”
I want to read you two quotes from two Republican members of the House who were so upset that McConnell came out against it. And they said, ‘McConnell must have been fearing a jailbreak. He knows the more House Republican votes it gets, the harder it is for him to defeat in the Senate,’ and then went on to say, ‘What Mitch has done is the worst cynical political move I have seen in a long time.’ So, look, these people won’t go on the record. They’re not going on camera yet, but what you are seeing is in real time the tension within the Republican conference, people who are trying to break away from Donald Trump, people who want the commission to get to the truth, and the Republican leadership is having none of it.
You can watch above, via CNN.
