Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) got called out and corrected this morning when he suggested on ABC News that rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, merely “wandered” into the building.
This Week host Jonathan Karl reminded Cotton of a statement he made following the riot regarding Donald Trump’s role in that horrific day: “It’s past time for the president to accept the results of the election, quit misleading the American people, and repudiate mob violence.”
“More than three years later, Trump has still not accepted the results,” Karl told the senator. “He is still misleading the American people.”
Cotton incorrectly replied that Trump had accepted the results of the 2020 election “that very day.”
“He still hasn’t accepted the results of the election,” Karl countered. “He’s also calling the people that attacked the Capitol hostages. And he’s suggesting that he would, may pardon all of them. I mean, I assume you don’t agree with that.”
“He said that he would consider pardons, and some of them probably…” Cotton sputtered.
Karl interjected, “And he called them hostages. So you agree these are hostages?”
“Some of them have been held in pre-trial detention longer than the sentences for the crimes with which they are charged,” Cotton insisted. “For people who just wandered into the Capitol, they thought it was open or was on the grounds.”
That’s when Karl slapped Cotton with a timely fact-check.
“I mean, that wasn’t like wandering. This wasn’t a tourist visit.”
Rather than address that point, Cotton whined the Justice Department had failed to prosecute “left-wing street militia threatening to assassinate Supreme Court justices.”
“People who were involved in that riot, who assaulted police officers, or who defaced and damaged public property should face the legal consequences,” he added.
“Isn’t it odd that the Republican nominee doesn’t agree with that?” Karl wondered.
“What shouldn’t be used is every grandma who had a red MAGA hat that was within a country mile of the Capitol on January 6th shouldn’t be sitting in pre-trial detention for a longer time than the crimes for which they might face a sentence,” Cotton whined.
Like nearly every member of the GOP since Donald Trump took complete control of their failing political party, Tom Cotton has become little more than a hypocritical shill who cannot criticize the failed ex-president, even when he incites an insurrection. Is it any wonder why so many Americans are sick and tired of Republicans and their bullshit?
