Trump 'absolutely' bears responsibility for Capitol riot, his former official says

• Scott Brown, a former ambassador, said Trump was "absolutely" responsible for the Capitol riot.
• Brown, also a former GOP senator, said Trump's major achievements were "by the wayside now."
• "I think his presidency was diminished as a result of this," Brown told CNN.

A former GOP senator and member of the Trump administration on Sunday said former President Donald Trump was "absolutely" responsible for the fatal attack on the Capitol on January 6.

"Absolutely, I mean, he bears responsibility," Scott Brown, who served as the US's ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa from 2017 to 2020, told CNN.

"I think his presidency was diminished as a result of this, and I think he's paying a price," Brown said. "He's been impeached twice. He was impeached for those actions."

Brown, who was a US senator from Massachusetts from 2010 to 2013, said that many of Trump's achievements, including his actions against China, were "by the wayside now."

Brown spoke after the House voted on Wednesday to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol insurrection.

Brown expressed support for an investigation, saying it was "imperative to find out what role everybody played and figure out why" it happened.

"You look at what happened on 9/11, when we were attacked by foreign terrorists, and we wanted to find out immediately where was the breakdown, what happened, and why," he said, according to CNN's report.

"Well, this is no different. They weren't tourists. They weren't visiting just to have fun."

The bill the House passed would establish a 10-member commission to produce a report on the Capitol attack by the end of the year, detailing "findings regarding the facts and causes of the attack" and proposing solutions to prevent similar attacks.

Thirty-five Republicans voted for the bill, many of whom had been critical of Trump's role before and during the riot.