George Conway: GOP blocking Jan. 6 commission ‘more appalling’ than both Trump acquittals

Conservative attorney and political pundit George Conway said there is “no excuse” for Senate Republicans balking at the creation of a congressional commission to examine what led to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

“Republican senators have managed to outdo themselves in cowardice — which is quite a feat,” Conway wrote Wednesday in The Washington Post. “Last week’s Senate vote blocking a national commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol was even more appalling than either of the Senate’s impeachment trial acquittals of former president Donald Trump.”

On Friday, senators voted 54-35 on the House-passed bill to establish the commission, falling short of the 10 GOP votes needed for passage. Republican senators had publicly and privately warned in the weeks leading up to Friday’s vote that that they believed the commission would damage them heading into the 2022 midterm elections.

“I do not believe the extraneous ‘commission’ that Democratic leaders want would uncover crucial new facts or promote healing. Frankly, I do not believe it is even designed to,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Conway, a vocal Trump critic who has often also criticized McConnell and other Senate Republicans for their support for Trump during his time in the White House, said the party “shirked their duties at both trials” of the former president.

Trump was impeached by the House twice and acquitted by the Senate both times. Trump was impeached once for abuse of power and obstructing justice, and again earlier this year for inciting insurrection against the government following the Jan. 6 riot by a mob of his supporters.

“Trump breached his duties in both cases, and Senate Republicans thus failed to carry out theirs. But at least then the senators had excuses, however feeble,” Conway wrote, before saying there was “no excuse — none — for what they did last week.”

“Four years of Trump have led to the Republican Party becoming a threat to democracy, a declining sect dominated by crackpots, charlatans and cowards,” Conway said. “Of these, it’s the cowards, including the senators who killed last week’s legislation, who bear the most blame.”