Rep. Malliotakis explains vote against commission to probe riots at U.S. Capitol

Supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and some members of Congress think that needs a commission similar to the one conducted after 9/11.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) and most of her Republican colleagues don’t think what the Democratic majority has proposed is the right move. Here’s why, according to Staten Island’s only congressional representative.

“At this time, there are several ongoing investigations underway by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security in which over 400 people have been arrested and charged in connection to the violence and destruction that occurred at the Capitol on January 6,” she said in an emailed statement.

The bill launching the new commission passed the House Wednesday with 35 GOP votes, but is expected to stall in the Senate where it will need 10 Republicans to cross the aisle.

Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), like his House counterpart Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California), has urged his party’s members to oppose the bill.

Malliotakis said that in addition to the ongoing criminal investigations that have charged more than 440 people, two “bipartisan commissions are underway in the Senate, in which the findings are imminent and expected to be made public within weeks.”

“After reading the legislation and consulting with counsel, I believe creating an additional commission is redundant and would interfere with criminal prosecutions,” she continue.

McConnell has also said that an additional commission would be redundant. The Senate Rules Committee and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are expected to issue a report in early June about what happened at the Capitol riot.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska), one Republican who supported the legislation wrote on social media that he wanted to “learn why leadership utterly failed to be prepared that day.”

“I stand by our law enforcement and the over 140 Capitol Hill Police who were injured on January 6th,” he tweeted. “Transparency and learning the facts are needed. Finally, we should all agree that whether violence comes from the left or right, we should all denounce it and hold the perpetrators accountable.”

Malliotakis’ office pointed to 10 amendments Republicans submitted in the House that Democrats rejected as to what they’d like to see added to the legislation.

Some of the amendments set deadlines for the commission to issue a report and its funding, while others increase the authority of Republicans on the commission.

“This bill omits language that would prohibit interference with current criminal investigations and limits the scope to exclude other political violence including the riots that destroyed cities across America over the summer, the vehicular attack against Capitol Police in April, in which an officer was killed, and the attempted murder of Republican Members of Congress in June of 2017,″ she continued.

Riots and other crime have been linked to mostly-peaceful protests against the extrajudicial police killings of Black people since last May when Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd.

Republicans made former Rep. Max Rose’s participation in a peaceful march on Staten Island last June a central focus of their successful efforts to get Malliotakis elected.

In April, 25-year-old Noah Green, a self-identified member of the Nation of Islam, crashed a sedan into a checkpoint near the Capitol, exited the vehicle with a knife, and approached officers who shot and killed him. An officer also later died at the hospital.

Green’s motive has yet to be identified, and the Nation of Islam is not a strictly political organization.

In June 2017, James Hodgkinson shot Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), Capitol Police Officer Crystal Griner, congressional aide Zack Barth, and lobbyist Matt Mika during a baseball practice in Alexandria Virginia.

Hodgkinson, a leftwing activist who reportedly expressed extreme views against Republicans on social media, died after the incident from wounds he sustained in a 10-minute gunfight with police. He was the only person to die that day.

Another of the Republican amendments to the bill that passed Wednesday would have launched a congressional investigation into that incident, which the federal government has labeled a domestic terror attack.

While Malliotakis voted against the commission, she again expressed opposition to what happened Jan. 6 at the Capitol, and support of holding those responsible accountable.

“I continue to condemn the violence and destruction that occurred on January 6, urge the prosecution of those who violated our laws, and anticipate the Senate’s findings on this security breach and measures that should be taken to ensure this never happens again,” she concluded.