Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., doesn't have an easy explanation for the House select committee's sudden postponement of its Tuesday hearing on the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol.
Maybe it had something to do with panel chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., stating that it's ''not our job'' to refer criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
Perhaps the committee didn't want to compete with the Supreme Court potentially striking down the Roe v. Wade ruling of 1973 — which legalized abortion nationwide — as early as Wednesday.
Or maybe the committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans — Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who are not well liked by Trump — doesn't have enough evidence to make American consumers forget about 40-year highs with inflation, rising food costs, record-high gas prices or shortages of everyday items.
''Everything's a smoke-and-mirrors game to [the Democrats],'' Mast told Newsmax host Lyndsay Keith on Tuesday's ''Spicer & Co.''
Mast has held congressional office for more than five years, which means he's been exposed to a number of surreal occurrences.
Few things, however, might top the House chamber's monthlong reluctance to pass an enhanced-security bill for Supreme Court justices and their families — even though the measure passed unanimously in the Senate.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ''didn't want to pass this at all ... her game that she's playing, [risking] the lives of Supreme Court justices, is that she wants them to be intimidated into making a decision that she wants,'' Mast said. ''The judges have been physically intimidated, their families have been [hounded] to the point where they feel their lives are being threatened.''
Regarding Pelosi, D-Calif., Mast expects a more prompt voting response to rumors of the Senate creating the ''framework'' for a bipartisan gun safety bill, which reportedly includes six components:
- State crisis intervention orders.
- School safety resources.
- Mental health and suicide prevention programs.
- Enhanced review process for gun buyers aged 20 and younger.
- Penalties for straw purchasing.
- Red-flag provisions.
According to the GunAssociation.org blog, a straw purchase occurs ''when one person buys the firearm with the intent of giving the gun to another person for their primary use. For instance, if a father were to buy his son a firearm and didn't plan on being the owner and primary user of the weapon himself, it would qualify as a straw purchase.''
Would Mast formally support the proposed gun safety package right now?
''No, I wouldn't vote on it. ... Just look at what [Democratic leaders are] trying to take away. Democrats fundamentally believe, that here in the House, you shouldn't have First Amendment rights, or be able to speak freely,'' Mast said.
''They don't believe in due process with the red-flag law in this provision. ... And they've been very clear, they don't think you have the right to a well-regulated militia for the purposes of a free state. ... They do not believe the American people are responsible enough or trustworthy enough'' to carry their own weapons, as a means of defending themselves, their family, their property, or their neighborhood — under the Second Amendment.
Generally speaking, Democrats are ''not working in good faith,'' Mast said.
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