The proposed commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol will not be able to uncover anything more than the FBI already has, said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), in a conference call with reporters Wednesday. Braun said he believes the creation of the commission has been and continues to be fueled by politics, rather than solely the search for truth.
“I was here that day. Most of us understand exactly what happened. We saw it. We participated in it, in terms of having to evacuate the chambers and coming back later that day,” he said.
Braun does not seem to agree that there are enough unanswered questions to proceed. He said keeping it “out there” means his colleagues are trying to capitalize on it in a political way.
“Committees here have been working and looking at how you increase the security both physically and in terms of the Capitol Police,” he said. “Most of feel that we’ve got the information we need to make the right decisions, in terms of what to do.”
When asked if he was interested in finding out if there was a core entity responsible for the attack, or who that might be, Braun said he believes such an answer is unlikely.
“The FBI, I think has arrested over 350, close to 400 people, we think nearly 450 when it’s all said and done. There is no stone being unturned in this situation.”
Braun said the result of those arrests and the investigation so far, is that Washington is on high alert. More security and different angles of security are being considered. Some of that security, though, is being considered because of further threats to lawmakers.
Braun is confident that the commission is unnecessary. Some Republicans, including the ones in opposition to the commission in the House, have said they believe the commission would violate its own scope and focus.
“It gets highly political in nature, like you’re trying to generalize on the severity of this, beyond the horrific nature of that day,” said Braun.
Vaccinated or Not?
Braun answered other question from reporters. He would not reveal whether he has been vaccinated.
“I don’t believe in vaccine passports and it’s a personal decision of a private nature, and I advise you get the vaccine,” was his answer.
Israel’s Defense
Braun also said he believes Israel is defending itself reasonably against attacks from Hams, despite some viewpoints that the attacks on Hamas targets are too much.
“Hamas used their own citizens as human shields and this is a repeat of what has happened so much in the past,” he said. “This is defensive on the part of Israel. I hope that it does lessen for the sake of everyone there. But, you need to blame Hamas, not Israel.”
WIBC Contributed to this report.
