During a virtual town hall with fellow New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D) that was largely focused on public safety amid the rise in violent crime in New York City, an attendee during the Q&A portion of the event asked the lawmakers how House Republicans who voted against the certification of Biden’s win will be held accountable.A virtual town hall was held with Jamaal Bowman (D), a fellow New York Rep. The event was primarily focused on public safety in light of the rising crime rate in New York City. One attendee asked the legislators how the House Republicans who voted against Biden’s win would be held responsible during the Q&A section.
Dozens of House Republicans in January voted to challenge a slate of electors for Biden based on unsupported claims of widespread fraud, just hours after hundreds of people violently stormed the Capitol to protest the election results. In January , dozens of House Republicans voted to challenge an electors list for Biden that was based on unsupported claims about widespread fraud. This just hours after hundreds of protestors stormed the Capitol to protest election results.
In response to the participant’s question, Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez highlighted Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) Thursday announcement of a special congressional committee to investigate the mob attack, including the timeline of the events and whether any lawmakers played a role in the riot.|Bowman and Ocasio Cortez responded to the participant’s questions by highlighting Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Thursday’s announcement of a Special Congress Committee to investigate and determine whether any legislators were involved in the mob attack.
Ocasio-Cortez stated Friday that the commission was “extraordinary important” in order to achieve accountability.
The congresswoman stated that she was thankful that there was a Democratic majority in Congress that day. “Frankly, if we didn’t have one, we would be relying upon a large number of Republican members to do what is right.”
“And what we’ve seen in some of their votes is that many of them will fall in line, even when they know it’s the wrong thing to do,” she added.
“If, for example, there was a Republican majority in the House, we do not know what would have happened in terms of certification of election results,” Ocasio-Cortez argued.
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The congresswoman went on to say that she believed some Republicans were opposed to the creation of a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot because “there are likely members that don’t want to see some of these facts come to light and corroborate it.”
“I do believe that the commission, it’s not a gesture. It is a serious investigation so that we can finally corroborate some of these facts,” she added.
The commission comes after Senate Republicans last month blocked the establishment of an independent panel to conduct the probe based on the commission established after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Several GOP lawmakers have continued to downplay the Jan. 6 violence, which was spurred by former President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of a stolen 2020 presidential election.