Ex-Sen. Scott Brown: Trump 'Bears Responsibility' for Jan. 6

Former Sen. Scott Brown, who served as an ambassador under ex-President Donald Trump, said Sunday that Trump “bears responsibility” for the events on Jan. 6 at the Capitol and insisted that it should be a “no-brainer” to form an independent commission to examine the events of that day.  

“Absolutely, I mean, he bears responsibility,” Brown, who was a GOP senator from Massachusetts before Trump appointed him as an ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, told CNN’s “State of the Union”. 

“I think his presidency was diminished as a result of that, and I think he’s paying a price,” Brown added. He has been impeached twice. He was impeached for those actions.”

Trump had a “lot of great things,” such as his work with China, the push to get the COVID-19 vaccine out, and his actions with Iran, Russia, and more are now “by the wayside” as a result of what happened on Jan. 6, said the former GOP Massachusetts lawmaker.

“That is why it’s imperative to find out what role everybody played and figure out why, first of all,” said Brown. “I can’t believe I thought I was watching — I thought it was an action movie, banana republic.”

A commission was called to investigate the events of 9/11, he pointed out, “when we were attacked by foreign terrorists,” the ex-GOP lawmaker from Massachusetts said. “We wanted to find out immediately where was the breakdown, what happened and why? This is no different.”

The people involved in the attack on the Capitol “weren’t tourists,” said Brown. “They weren’t visiting just to have fun. We had people who were ready to wreak havoc. People died. Clearly, there was a breakdown of communication, security.”

Brown added that he agrees with contentions that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was responsible for security at the Capitol, and said there must be a commission “to find out who is responsible, what went wrong, to make sure it never happens again,” and the group must consist of independent examiners. 

“I’ll do it,” he said. “How about Joe Lieberman, how about Gen. (David) Petraeus? We’ll go in. If it was a foreign country that went in and took over that quickly, then what? We need to fix it right away.”

He added that he was “embarrassed and angry” and he wants to make sure a similar event never happens again. 

“We are the greatest country in the world, and we have amazing opportunities,” said Brown. “I’ve lived in other parts of the world, and I’ve visited there, and there’s no place like this country. Yes, we have our faults and we’re addressing them, but we have a great social fabric of people who care deeply about who we are as Americans, and we’ve got to fix this right away.”

Brown also said he disagrees with Trump over his push against the results of the 2020 election. 

“I know this has been conveyed to him and his administration, and all of his team,” said Brown. “If there were concerns about the election…you should have gone and figured it out before the election, not after the fact.”

If there are concerns about a polling place, then watchers should be brought in, said Brown. 

“There’s a lack of trust between the general public, the media, corporations, banks, and government and politicians, and we have to find a way to find that common ground and fix it, and stop relitigating the past and focus on how we’re going to be moving forward,” he said.