July 29, 2021 by Scott Atkinson
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WWNY) – As a House committee began its investigation into the cause of the January 6 insurrection, north country congresswoman Elise Stefanik blamed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
In a statement Tuesday morning, Stefanik said “Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility as the Speaker of the House for the tragedy that occurred on January 6th.”
“It is a fact that in December of 2020, Nancy Pelosi was made aware of potential security threats to the capitol and she failed to act,” Stefanik said.
“It is a fact the U.S. Capitol Police raised concerns and rather than providing them with support and the resources that they needed and they deserved, she prioritized her partisan political optics over their safety,” Stefanik said.
Stefanik’s statement, emailed to reporters, did not address the pivotal role then-President Trump’s supporters played in the riots, nor the role Trump himself played – there is a large public record that many of the people who stormed the Capitol on January 6 were spurred on by Trump’s words, and thought they were acting to stop a presidential election they saw as illegitimate.
Stefanik’s statement drew a response from one of her Democratic opponents, Matt Putorti.
Putorti called Stefanik’s remarks “a dangerous attempt to distract the American people from her own endorsement of the Big Lie, which led to an armed attack resulting in the death of police officers and threatening the very foundation of our democracy.”
Republicans rejected an offer for an independent 9/11-style commission to investigate January 6, with an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, prompting Pelosi to create a “select committee” of House members.
Pelosi refused to accept two of five Republicans named to the committee by minority leader Kevin McCarthy.
“The reason why Nancy Pelosi is refusing to seat accomplished and well-respected hardworking Republicans like Jim Jordan and Jim Banks is because she doesn’t want the American people to know the truth, or learn the facts. She doesn’t want a fair or bipartisan investigation, she wants a political one,” Stefanik said Tuesday.
Pelosi said she rejected Jordan and Banks “As they have made statements and taken actions that I think would impact the integrity of the committee, the work of the committee. This is deadly serious. This is about our Constitution.”
In vivid testimony Tuesday morning, Capitol police described what it was like to be under siege on January 6.
The committee showed video in which a man “is heard saying that next time they would all come back to the Capitol prepared with more ammunition to attack members of Congress,” theWashington Postreported.
“Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) all watched the video with their faces in their hands, and Kinzinger wiped away a tear when the footage was ending.
“We’ll be back, he warns us, is just chilling,” Thompson said in reaction to the video. “That man’s warning reminds us that this threat has not gone away. It looms over our democracy like a dark cloud.”
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