'A Defining Historical Moment': Raphael Warnock On The GOP's Blockade Of Jan. 6 Commission

“All of us are here as representatives of a democracy that folks on the other side have decided they’re not willing to defend," said Georgia's first Blac...

WASHINGTON ― Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) was elected to office the day before supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential win. Warnock, the first Black senator from Georgia, was born while his state was still represented by segregationists. He won in a runoff election system that racists created during the Jim Crow era, and he’s currently supporting voting rights legislation blocked by a Senate procedure long used to stop the advancement of civil rights in the United States. On Friday, moments after Senate Republicans used their first filibuster of Biden’s presidency to block debate on a bill to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack, Warnock stood off the floor of the Senate and reflected on the moment. Standing in a Senate hallway not far from where a mob of Trump supporters chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up the stairs after they smashed out windows of the Capitol and broke into the building, Warnock said he worried his colleagues may have grown cynical and prioritized short-term political gains at a time when the future of American democracy is on the line.