(WXMI) — U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) is not mincing words about some GOP colleagues who have been downplaying the January 6 Capitol riot. “Bogus, it’s absolutely bogus,” Upton said in an interview with CNN Sunday.
Among the claims made from some Republicans in the past week, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Georgia) said “if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.”
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) spoke on the House floor Friday saying, "There have been things worse than people without any firearms coming into a building."
“I was there, I watched a number of the folks who walked down to the White House and then back. I saw the gallows that were constructed on the east front of the Capitol, I've talked to one of the Capitol Hill police officers [who is] from my hometown. It was chilling, what happened was absolutely chilling,” Upton retorted
A bipartisan deal was reached Friday to form a January 6 commission to investigate the incident. Upton says he’s in support of the commission which will be evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, with both sides getting subpoena power.
"They're going to subpoena a number of people, it's important to get to the truth and find out just how widespread this thing was, and what can we do to make sure that it never happens again,” Upton said.
The longtime Michigan congressman was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach former President Donald Trump following the attack on the Capitol.
Another one of those 10, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), was ousted from her leadership position of House GOP Conference Chair for frequent criticism of Trump. Upton called the move disappointing.
“We only win by addition, not subtraction. I was a supporter of Liz and have gotten to know her quite well over the last number of months for sure. You're not going to win elections unless you have that big tent, so I was very disappointed about what we did,” Upton said.
Meanwhile, Cheney says the Republican Party is headed in a “dangerous” direction.
“I've worked in countries around the world where you don't have a peaceful transition of power. What's happening right now with Donald Trump and his continued attacks on the constitution and the rule of law is dangerous and, and we all have an obligation to stand up against that,” Cheney told Fox News Sunday.
The House Republican Conference picked New York congresswoman and Trump-loyalist Rep. Elise Stefanik to take Cheney’s old post.
