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Top House Republican Wants DOJ Probe Into Trump’s Capitol Siege Response

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This article is more than 3 years old.
Updated Jan 16, 2021, 09:05am EST

Topline

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Friday he plans to ask the Department of Justice for an investigation into President Donald Trump’s response to last week’s brutal assault on the U.S. Capitol, underscoring how Trump’s grip on Republicans in Congress has loosened toward the end of his presidency.

Key Facts

McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview with Yahoo News’ Skullduggery podcast that he plans to put out a letter on Saturday calling for a “full and thorough” federal investigation.

McCaul broke with the majority of his caucus by voting to certify Biden’s Electoral College victory but he stopped short of voting to impeach Trump, stating that while Trump’s conduct “may have been impeachable,” the process was simply too rushed.

While the articles of impeachment focused on Trump’s remarks to supporters before they stormed the Capitol, McCaul explained he wants to go “beyond” that and get answers about Trump’s conduct during and after the incident.

“Once the president knew the Capitol was under siege and really being invaded by domestic terrorists, what actions did the president specifically take to remedy that,” McCaul asked, asserting Trump would “pull out all the stops” if the attackers had been Al Qaeda.

McCaul noted the National Guard response was “delayed for hours” and said members of Congress called Trump during the attack and pled with him to make the attack stop.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said he was prepared to mobilize his state’s national guard unit but was “repeatedly denied” authorization from the Pentagon and had to wait over an hour and a half – with reports suggesting Trump resisted granting approval and Vice President Mike Pence had to step in to take over.

Surprising Fact

McCaul even went as far as to express support for a demand by 34 House Democrats that Capitol law enforcement investigate whether GOP lawmakers assisted the Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol. “It absolutely should be investigated,” McCaul said, calling for an independent “9/11-style commission” and a bipartisan Congressional investigation to give a wider picture of the attack.

Crucial Quote

“For hours while the riot continued, the President communicated only on Twitter and offered weak requests for restraint,” Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), the only Republican to vote for both objections to Biden’s electors and Trump’s impeachment, said of his perplexing impeachment vote in a statement. “I have backed this President through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned for him and voted for him twice. But, this utter failure is inexcusable.”

Key Background

Trump is already set to face a vast array of investigations when he leaves office in four days’ time. State and local prosecutors in New York are probing his business practices, particularly whether he defrauded banks and business partners with doctored financial statements. A county prosecutor in Georgia is weighing an investigation into Trump’s request that Georgia election officials “find” the votes he needed to win the state, according to the New York Times. And in the U.S. Senate, he faces an impeachment trial that could bar him from seeking future office, the outcome of which seems genuinely unclear.

Tangent

Despite his criticism of Trump’s conduct, McCaul lauded Trump’s “great record of accomplishment” on the economy, foreign policy and a coronavirus vaccine. However, McCaul said, Trump’s legacy “will be damaged by what he did this last month.”

What To Watch For

President-elect Biden, for his part, has repeatedly declared his Department of Justice will operate with complete independence free from political pressure. “I will not direct them who to prosecute, what to prosecute, how to prosecute,” Biden said in September.

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