Local Politicians Split In Reaction To First Of January 6 Committee Public Hearings
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- After the first day of hearings in Washington D.C. concerning the January 6 Capitol riot, local members of Congress were predictably split along partisan lines.
"Laying out exactly what we now know and the way in which they presented the information? Compelling," says Rep. John Garamendi (CA-03).
Republican representative Doug LaMalfa (CA-01) doesn't see balance among the members.
"[House Minority] Leader [Kevin] McCarthy will and has mentioned that many times, that there's not a diversity of opinion and questions," LaMalfa says.
Following the first day of testimony, President Joe Biden weighed in to Democratic congressional representatives while on a visit to the Port of Los Angeles on Friday.
"He started off the discussion about that and he basically said our democracy was and is at risk," Garamendi explains.
GOP members feel the Committee is distracting from real issues to Americans.
"It's taken partisan politics in the capitol and process to a new low," says LaMalfa. "And I hope this can be discarded upon a new congress again and this can never be reverted to ever again."
The congressman said the rioting is a broader issue.
"Riots have become a little too comfortable for folks to express themselves across the board and this is a problem that needs a much stronger solution than anything we're gonna come up with in this sham committee right now," explains LaMalfa.
But Garamendi feels that point is meant to take away from the issue at hand and the seriousness of the allegations against former President Donald Trump.
"This is about what happened on January 6," Garamendi says. "This is about the President of the United States trying to create a coup so he could stay in power."
On Monday, new testimony will be heard as the Jan. 6 Committee lays out how former President Trump allegedly played a role and even orchestrated claims of election fraud and efforts to overturn the 2020 President Election.
