Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon has been one of the more outspoken Republicans about January 6, 2021. As the select January 6 committee convenes for a second time Monday, Nebraska Public Media spoke with the Omaha area U.S. representative last Friday to reflect on the first hearing.
Will Bauer, Nebraska Public Media News: Congressman Bacon, did you watch any of the January 6 select committee hearings Thursday night?
U.S. Rep Don Bacon: No, I was actually flying back from Washington D.C. back to Omaha. But I did read all about it Thursday night when I got home and saw some of the news and also read about it Friday morning.
Bauer: Well, let me ask you, what did you make of what you read and what you watched?
Bacon: I've been monitoring it pretty closely since January of 2021. I didn't see a lot of new information in there. It was stuff that I've already heard. Attorney General Barr and his comments. The president's daughter and her comments. A lot of the stuff I've already known. And I think it reinforces – I think to most everyone – that what happened on January 6 was terrible. Violence against police is always unacceptable. The vandalism was unacceptable. I'm always all for holding people accountable that break the law in that regard. I don't think there's a lot of new information that I can see. I do think there's some areas that we need to know. The National Guard was offered to the Capitol to help Capitol Security three days before January 6, but it was not accepted. I'd like to know why. Who made that decision? That's still vague to me. I'd like to know who did the pipe bombs that day. What group did that? So, there's some unanswered questions that we haven't gotten to yet.
Bauer: So moving forward, for you, a potential viewer, you'd like to see new information brought to light as these select committee hearings progress throughout the summer?
Bacon: Yeah, I know they have a handful of hearings, and I hope they're providing new information. If it's regurgitating old information that we already know, I don't know what good is it providing at that point. I condemned the attacks on January 6. I've done it multiple times since. I don't think the president's behavior that day was right. He should have been intervened much earlier. I also didn't like his attacks on Vice President Pence. But these are the things that are coming out in the hearings last night, and we already know those things too.
Bauer: What would you say to Nebraskans, or maybe Americans, who think the election was stolen or maybe don't see January 6 as a dark day in American history.
Bacon: I could take a case on both sides here because some people will treat it like it was December 7 or 9/11, and I think that that's going overboard. But anytime you commit violence against police, it's wrong. I don't care if you're coming from the right or the left. I believe good Republicans defend our police. We defend a peaceful protest, and we shouldn't make excuses for why that doesn't happen. We should condemn all violence in that regard. And I tell people too: Some of these folks broke into the Capitol. They vandalized it. Some people defecated on the floors. That's unacceptable, and we shouldn't be defending any of that behavior. When it comes to the election, I do think we should always try to tighten up our election laws. I just was reading before I called you, someone in Arizona just got convicted of voter fraud. We need to enforce our laws. No election is perfect. But when it's all said and done, President Biden won the election. A lot of these issues were adjudicated in courts. I believe that we believe in the rule of law. And we have legal processes, and we went through them. President Biden won the election, You can look at our district here in Omaha. President Trump won in 2016 by two points, but he lost it 2020 by seven and a half points. I don't think there's any credible information showing any fraud, or fraud of any significant levels, in Douglas County or Sarpy County. So I think if we want to win the next election, you got to study why we actually lost. If we blame the wrong thing, it hurts us. I believe that people liked the president's policies, but they didn't like the name calling. The first debate was a disgrace in temperament. I just think those are the things that really shaped the election, and we should learn from it. If we want to win a 2024, we have to be right on the policies but also right on the temperament.
Bauer: I know this isn't the easiest time to be in politics. The atmosphere can be tense. You're someone who's supported the creation of the bipartisan commission – not this committee – to investigate January 6, and many Republicans did not. How has that impacted your relationships, both personally and professionally, on Capitol Hill?
Bacon: I do find if people are familiar with the bipartisan commission that I voted for, they assume what they see today – with the hearings Thursday night – that that's the bipartisan commission. It is not. The bipartisan commission – and it was a compromise between the Republican ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, and the chairman, a Republican and a Democrat –put together I thought a pretty good compromise. The compromise was gonna be 50/50 representation on the commission. There was gonna be a timeline that had to be completed was December 31, 2021. And you had to have a consensus of both parties to subpoena. And this was a fair thing to do, and I knew right away If it did not pass, the alternative was going to be a Speaker Pelosi creating a select committee, which is what we got with eight-to-five difference between Democrats and Republicans. And that she could kick off the committee who she wanted. And it could be majority rule on subpoenas and everything. That's what we got. So a lot of people are mad about what they're seeing today, from our party, and they think it's the bipartisan commission. No. If you opposed the bipartisan commission, then you get what we have today. It's become very partisan and, in many people's eyes, it lacks legitimacy because of it. If we would have had the bipartisan commission, we would have had a much fairer process. I think they would have looked at unanswered questions. Why was the capitol not prepared for half million people coming in that day? And we still haven't got to that answer.
Editor's note: This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.