Our Congressman, August Pfluger, would like us to believe that the January 6 Committee was set up solely to be a partisan assault on ex-President Trump and Republicans. He obviously doesn’t want people to remember that after the January 6, 2021 attack on our nation’s capitol, that there was an attempt to set up a bi-cameral and bi-partisan committee to investigate the insurrection. Without going through all the details, the Senate Republicans torpedoed the idea. The House then set up a bi-partisan committee, however two (Jim Jordan and Jim Banks) of the five selected by Minority Leader McCarthy were rejected by Speaker Pelosi as was her right. These two are known for their blind support of Trump and their attempts to overturn the results of the Electoral College. After being asked to supply two other Republican members, McCarthy in an obvious political ploy pulled all Republican members. Subsequently, one Republican member, Adam Kinzinger, was added to the one Republican, Liz Cheney, that Speaker Pelosi had already selected. Therefore there are two Republicans on the Committee. Rep. Pfluger’s statement that the Committee is strictly partisan is disingenuous at best.
Several months ago, Representative Pfluger took the time to call my wife and me after we had written to him with our concerns about January 6 and the the former President’s continuing lies that the election was stolen. I appreciate the time he took and was encouraged when he told me, after being prodded several times, that President Biden was legitimately elected. This was amazing since he objected to both Arizona and Pennsylvania when the votes for the Electoral College were counted.
Unfortunately, since that time I have not heard him confirm President Biden’s legitimacy in public. It appears that Rep. Pfluger fears the ex-President’s wrath should he speak out. Rep. Pfluger has even gone so far as to praise Trump after meeting with him at the border. On the anniversary of the attack, President Biden told the truth about the cause – the events of January 6, 2021 were the culmination of the Big Lie. Unless the Big Lie is called out by our Representative and other leaders of the Republican Party the danger to our democracy continues.
Until such time, Rep. Pfluger is part of the problem. Rep. Pfluger certainly has the right to oppose the policies of President Biden. I may not agree with many of the Congressman’s positions, but we can agree to disagree. He does not have the right however as my Congressman to refuse to stand up for our democracy. He knows the truth. I simply ask that Congressman Pfluger publicly reject the ex-President’s lies and repeat what he told me privately; President Biden was legitimately elected. Perhaps then, Representative Pfluger could help lead in our country’s reckoning with the truth.
Dan Hamilton
Odessa
