On Wednesday, the House approved the creation of an independent commission to investigate the Capitol insurrection of January 6, 2021—but with no help from the GOP. Seth Meyers dedicated his Wednesday night “A Closer Look” segment to reminding the Republicans who are trying to create an “alternate universe” surrounding what happened that day, and Donald Trump’s legacy as president as a whole, that Americans have the receipts.
“Republicans have also been busy trying to rewrite the history of what happened at the Capitol on January 6th. That’s why GOP leaders like Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell have come out against creating an independent commission to investigate it and many Republicans have straight-up lied about it. Which is hard to swallow because we all—every one of us—saw it happening in real time with our own eyes. Most of the people doing it were also filming it. It was one of those collective national moments where we were all watching the same thing unfold together in shock. Like the O.J. Simpson trial or the Apollo 13 landing or David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty disappear.”
On Wednesday, the FBI released new video of the attacks on the Capitol in an attempt to solicit the public’s help in identifying the “most violent” rioters, and have already arrested more than 300 people for their actions on that day.
Between social media and on-the-scene videos shot by both the global media and the rioters themselves, there are hundreds of thousands of single pieces of evidence as to what happened that day—yet the GOP is still firmly against creating a commission to make the events of that day a part of the public record (a decision that has apparently angered Capitol police).
“It’s all there, on camera, for us to see,” Meyers said. “And yet Republicans are engaged in an intensifying effort to rewrite the history of that day by claiming, preposterously, that the entire thing was a peaceful protest.” He concluded:
“This is why we need a commission: to lay out the facts as we know them for the historical records so that Republicans can’t lie about it and create an alternate reality where it didn’t happen. If there isn’t an accurate historical account of the insurrection, with shame and consequences for the people involved, it could very well happen again.”
You can watch the full clip above.