Colorado Democrat says he's tired of GOP playing games on Capitol riot

Rep. Jason Crow said Sunday that he was tired of "playing whack-a-mole" with Republicans on the Hill.

In discussing the Senate's rejection of a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, the Colorado Democrat said he was frustrated by Republicans moving the goal posts whenever Democrats made concessions.

"I'm sick of playing the game of whack-a-mole with GOP members in Congress. Every time we address one of their concerns, another one pops up," Crow said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Republicans led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked the proposal last week; the vote was 54-35 in favor of the commission, leaving it six votes short of the total needed to end a filibuster. Among those 11 senators who didn't vote, at least three were believed to be in favor of the commission.

"We think there were a couple more people who would have voted had they been present," Crow told host Chuck Todd. "The question is can we get those three or four additional votes or are we going to have to take up a select committee on the House side or some kind of House and Senate combined committee and do this ourselves? I don't know."

Crow said it was essential for the Jan. 6 attack to be investigated more thoroughly. "What we really need to know is what was Donald Trump doing in the hours before the riot?" he said. "During the riot, what was he talking to or telling his advisers? What happened with that discussion with [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy?"

Crow said only "a bipartisan commission or a select committee with subpoena power" is likely to be able to get those types of answers.

McConnell has said it is time to move past the events of the day for the sake of healing, though other Republicans have taken their objections to a commission further. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) recently compared the events of that day to "a normal tourist visit," and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) called those who were there that day "peaceful patriots."

Crow has much less benign views of that day.

"I made the call to my wife, told her I loved her. I didn't know whether I would be able to make it out of that chamber like dozens or other members, like journalists, police officers there," he said.