- Sen.
Lisa Murkowski criticized House GOP efforts to downplay the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. - "I'm offended by that," Murkowski told CNN. "This was not a peaceful protest."
- Murkowski said she would be open to backing an investigation examining the riot.
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska on Friday said that she was "offended" by a number of
Murkowski, who voted to convict former President
"I'm offended by that," Murkowski told CNN. "This was not a peaceful protest. When somebody breaks and enters, and then just because you know they don't completely trash your house once you're inside does not mean that it has been peaceful. This was not a peaceful protest."
She added: "We got to get beyond that rhetoric and acknowledge that what happened were acts of aggression and destruction towards an institution, and there were some people intent on (harming) the people that were part of that institution."
Murkowski, who is also up for reelection next year and has been targeted for defeat by Trump, expressed a willingness to back a bipartisan commission in Congress that would examine the riot.
"I'm one that thinks that there should be an investigation regarding the events on the 6th," she said.
Read more: How Marjorie Taylor Green became the Voldemort of Congress. Few lawmakers even want to say her name.
Advocates of the commission hope an investigation would deter any further GOP attempts to downplay the riot, which has become a popular sentiment among some House Republicans.
-The Recount (@therecount) May 14, 2021
On Friday, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas minimized the severity of the insurrection.
"There have been things worse than people without any firearms coming into a building," he expressed on the House floor, arguing that Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 attacks were more consequential events.
"When Pearl Harbor occurred, that was more of an attack on democracy than the protests of January 6," he said. "When 9/11 occurred, and I know it's been so long ago and a lot of people that have forgotten apparently about 9/11, 3,000 people killed, the Pentagon was hit, the two World Trade Centers were hit, thousands died."
Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona accused the Justice Department of "harassing peaceful patriots across the country.
A fellow conservative, Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, tried to dispute that the protestors were mostly in support of Trump, despite the rally held that day that sought to pressure Republicans to overturn the Electoral College victory of President Joe Biden.
"I don't know who did a poll to say that they were Trump supporters," he said.
Another Republican, Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, described the harrowing scene as similar to a "normal tourist visit" to the Capitol.
"Let's be honest with the American people: It was not an insurrection," he said. "There was an undisciplined mob. There were some rioters, and some who committed acts of vandalism."
He added: "To call it an insurrection, in my opinion, is a bald-faced lie."