GOP Group Names And Shames Republican Lawmakers Who ‘Summoned The Mob’

A conservative group is calling for a bipartisan commission to hold to account the GOP lawmakers who “summoned the mob” ahead of the deadly U.S. Capitol riot.

The Republican Accountability Project’s new online spot begins with footage of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) acknowledging there “is real concern among a number of members of my own party” about such an investigation.

Cheney was ousted from her GOP House leadership role on Thursday for refusing to back ex-President Donald Trump’s election conspiracies.

The video then cuts to clips of Republican lawmakers peddling Trump’s falsehoods following the 2020 election.

“More bad behavior is what we need,” declares Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in one bit. “We can’t allow it to just transfer power peacefully and allow Joe Biden to become president,” says conspiracy-endorsing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Video of Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) backing Trump’s rhetoric also appear.

The spot concludes with Cheney saying a commission would threaten “people in my party who may have been playing a role they should not have been playing.” It includes a call to sign a petition demanding the investigation, which Republicans have so far resisted given Trump’s role in whipping up his supporters ahead of the violence. A deal on a commission could be struck next week though, NBC News reported Tuesday.

“While hundreds of rioters have been arrested and charged, the people tasked with protecting our institutions must account for why the mob breached the Capitol during the very hour Joe Biden’s election was being certified by Congress,” the group, which is part of the never-Trump organization Defending Democracy Together, wrote on its website.

It’s “the only way to set the record straight about what happened, why, and who bears responsibility,” it added.