Former GOP senator says Jan. 6 commission ‘should be a no brainer”

Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) on Sunday expressed support for a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, calling it a “no brainer.”

“To me it’s a no brainer. You look what happened in 9/11, and we were attacked by foreign terrorists, and we wanted to find out immediately, where was the breakdown, what happened and why. Well this is no different,” Brown told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“They weren’t tourists, they went visiting just to have fun, we had people who were ready to wreak havoc. People died and there clearly was a breakdown of communication, security. And don’t forget, I agree … [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] is responsible for that stuff. So to have a commission like this to find out who was responsible, what went wrong, to make sure it never happens again, it should be a no brainer,” Brown added.

Current GOP leadership, however, does not agree with Brown. Last week, the top two Republicans in Congress, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), announced that they will not support bipartisan legislation that would establish the commission.

When asked by Bash if he agrees that former President Trump bears responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Brown said “absolutely.”

“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he bears responsibility, I think his presidency was diminished as a result of this, and I think he’s paying a price. He’s been impeached twice. He was impeached for those actions,” Brown, who was defeated by Elizabeth Warren in his 2012 reelection bid, said.

Brown added that a lot of the “great things” Trump did while in office are “by the wayside now.”

“A lot of the great things that he did working on China, getting the vaccine out, developed right away. Looking at what he did with Iran and Russia, and in the Indo-Pacific specifically, the amazing things he did during the Christchurch attacks and in New Zealand. I mean all those things are by the wayside now,” Brown said.

“That is why it’s imperative to find out what role everybody played and figure out why,” Brown added.

Brown, when prompted by Bash, also opined on the false claims of election fraud pushed by Trump. He said people have to “stop re-litigating the past,” and instead “focus on how we’re going to be moving forward.”