Republicans on Friday blocked the creation of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, using their filibuster power in the Senate for the first time this year to doom a full accounting for the deadliest attack on Congress in centuries.

With the vast majority of Republicans determined to shield their party from potential political damage that could come from scrutiny of the storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, only six G.O.P. senators joined Democrats to support advancing the measure. The final vote, 54 to 35, fell short of the 60 senators needed to move forward.

The vote was a stinging defeat for proponents of the commission, who had argued that it was the only way to assemble a truly comprehensive account of the riot for a polarized nation. Modeled after the inquiry into the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the proposed panel of experts would have been responsible for producing a report on the assault and recommendations to secure Congress by the end of the year.

The debate played out in the same chamber where a throng of supporters of former President Donald J. Trump, egged on by his lies of a stolen election and efforts by Republican lawmakers to invalidate President Biden’s victory, sought to disrupt Congress’s counting of electoral votes about five months ago.

Top Republicans had entertained supporting the measure as recently as last week. But they ultimately reversed course, and the House approved it with only 35 Republican votes. Leaders concluded that open-ended scrutiny of the attack would hand Democrats powerful political ammunition before the 2022 midterm elections — and enrage a former president they are intent on appeasing.

“I do not believe the additional extraneous commission that Democratic leaders want would uncover crucial new facts or promote healing,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader. “Frankly, I do not believe it is even designed to do that.”

Though Mr. McConnell said he would continue to support criminal cases against the rioters and stand by his “unflinching” criticisms of Mr. Trump, the commission’s defeat is expected to embolden the former president at a time when he has once again ramped up circulation of his baseless and debunked claims.

In a matter of months, his lies have warped the views of many of his party’s supporters, who view Mr. Biden as illegitimate; inspired a rash of new voting restrictions in Republican-led states and a quixotic recount in Arizona denounced by both parties; and fueled efforts by Republican members of Congress to downplay and reframe the Capitol riot as a benign event akin to a “normal tourist visit.”

“People are just now beginning to understand!” Mr. Trump wrote in a statement on Thursday.

Democrats denounced the vote as a cowardly cover-up. They warned Republicans that preventing an independent inquiry — led by five commissioners appointed by Democrats and five by Republicans — would not shield them from confronting the implications of Mr. Trump’s attacks on the democratic process.

“Do my Republican colleagues remember that day?” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, asked moments after the vote. “Do my Republican colleagues remember the savage mob calling for the execution of Mike Pence, the makeshift gallows outside the Capitol?”

“Shame on the Republican Party for trying to sweep the horrors of that day under the rug because they are afraid of Donald Trump,” he added.

The six Republicans who voted to advance debate on the commission included Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan M. Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah and Ben Sasse of Nebraska. All but Mr. Portman had voted at an impeachment trial in February to find Mr. Trump guilty of inciting the insurrection.

A seventh Republican, Senator Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, missed the vote but said he would have voted to advance debate on the commission. He was one of 11 senators who missed the vote.

It is beyond the realm of my imagination why anyone of a rational mind would support the GOP in it's current state. I'm not saying I don't understand Conservative values, but this ain't it. This is full blown nutjob. I don't understand it anymore than I understand why anyone over the age of 30 would support the radical left. The state of our politics I think is best described as "shambles."
We need to get back to where the radical fringe of both parties are frequently disappointed and outraged by the compromises made in Congress.

One of my Senators didn't vote as he is an abject coward and the other one is "LiL Joshy" Hawley as I always call him on his social media pages.

The same people who want to investigate this are those who supported and encouraged a summer of burning, looting and murder.

But the GOP are the one's who can't handle the truth.

Chuck You Schumer wants more taxpayer funded kabuki theater and their devoted zombies sop it up.

Get yer noses outta the trough and get to work!

You might want to re-read that first paragraph.

I’m not wasting my breath reading the rest.

What's wrong in or about the first paragraph?

Z doesn’t think it was a riot let alone the deadliest attack in congress in centuries.

Just another tour. Certainly nothing to do with the ex president’s attempts to subvert the peaceful transfer of power.

That’s the only non biased opinion to take.

Oh, brother... 🙄

Was just taking a stab at what z didn’t like about the first paragraph. Bet I was close.

If the people who stormed the capitol had been BLM protestors, every one of you righties would be calling them terrorists. And don't EVEN try to deny it. hahahahaha

REmember the big fuss over Bengazi - and now those same complainers are trying for a cover up. Anyone complaining about BLM is a racist that doesn't care about anything else that's happening unless they can blame blacks..

BLM is a domestic terror organization......... nothing more,nothing less,run by the extreme left wing of the democrat party.Only a blind fool would claim they are otherwise.


As for Jan 6th............"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”

Signed
TJ

See? I was right.

Looting a Target/burning a police station = terrorism

Storming the United States capitol to overturn the results of a democratic election = patriotism



Y'all are the mirror image of everything you talk sh*t about. And Trumpers can't even call themselves conservatives anymore. Y'all are a totally different breed.

So tell.me how they mirror..........looting,burning,shooting random neighborhoods and police stations

and

targeting the very representatives voted to power that have forgotten who they work for.

Calling that election democratic would be correct..........calling it fair would be quite another


Were those involved in our first revolution patriots or terrorists???

Obviously looting a black owned business and redressing grievances against those who betray their path is identical.

Robert if you and Teedubya don’t see what’s wrong with it there’s no conversation to be had. Nothing I spoke of focused on what you two are obsessed with.

My questions on a hypothetical revolution...

1: who exactly are you going to fight?

2: who are you fighting for (don't say the USA... everyone knows that's bullsh*t)?

3: wtf are going to do with it if you win? Didn't you see those f*cking idiots at the captol? Do really want those dumb sh*ts running the country?

I guess #3 is a compound question.

Storming the capital is criminal.
Looting and destroying for an entire fuçking year is criminal.
Why the selective outrage?

Why aren’t they all in jail???

#1. How *exactly* was the 2020 presidential election unfair?

#2. False equivalency

Well... Who are you asking? King George III?

Why is it every time someone mentions Jan 6th, which was an attack on our political process I.E. Insurrection. Trump guys always go.. Well, what about all those riots that went on all year. As if one excuses the other.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots..." Thomas Jefferson

I've heard that crap so much lately. Finish the quote if you want to use it to excuse what happened at the Capitol.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Where were the tyrants on Jan 6th? Is anyone you disagree with politically now a tyrant? Just stop already.


It's the same crap I hear from far left idiots using the quote "Money is the root of all evil." when the actual quote is "For the love of money is the root of all evil."

Completely changes the context. Political discourse in the U.S. has devolved into "I know what you are, but what am I?"

Peewee Herman 2024!

](*,)

Of gawd......
Both parties are totally fuqed up, with the extremest factions In each having more influence than ever before.
And THAT, my cigar smoking friends, is a problem.
We are in desperate need of a viable third party.