Congressman Cline claims to be a staunch friend of law enforcement.
Just last week he recognized National Police Week, writing on his Facebook page:
[W]e lift all of our law enforcement officers up, show them the respect they have earned and deserve, and thank them for their overwhelming contributions to our society.
That was last week. This week, instead of lifting our our law enforcement officers up, he let them down by voting against a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, modeled after the commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks. (Not known for his courage or independence, Cline joined all but 35 principled House Republicans to vote NO.)
I don’t know if Cline read this before he voted, but I doubt it would have made any difference.
Relatives of a U.S. Capitol Police officer who died by suicide following the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection said they support a commission to investigate the day’s events.
U.S. Capitol Police Officer Howie Liebengood, a 15-year police veteran, was one of two officers who died by suicide days after the deadly attack on the Capitol that left several dead and 140 officers injured. Liebengood’s death “was a direct result of the trauma and strain from the January 6th attack on the Capitol and the around-the-clock shifts in the subsequent days,” his family said.
…..
“We believe a thorough, non-partisan investigation into the root causes of and the response to the January 6th riot is essential for our nation to move forward,” the family said in a statement. “Howie’s death was an immediate outgrowth of those events.”
If anyone deserves a full accounting of the circumstances leading up to January 6, and the events of that day, it’s the brave officers of the Capitol and Washington, DC, police who put their lives and safety on the line to protect Cline and his fellow members of Congress.
As Congressman Tim Ryan told Cline and the other Republican opponents, “This is a slap in the face to every rank-and-file cop in the United States.”
Although Cline has denounced the violence at the Capitol, and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice, he has never been willing to identify them as a pro-Trump mob or discuss his role in enabling the Big Lie of a stolen Presidential election. And unlike some Republicans, he has never called out Trump for inciting the insurrection at the Capitol.
Cline is a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in the House, which endorsed the January 6 commission. Now that Cline has demonstrated his lack of interest in bipartisanship on such a vital matter, he should have the decency to resign.
So far Cline has offered no explanation for his vote.
Cline Watch 