The Senate Rules Committee is investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, and "we're not going to brush this under the rug," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said Monday while accusing Republicans who downplay the events of that day of engaging in "revisionism."

"This is an important issue," the Illinois Democrat said CNN's "New Day." "It gets down to the question of domestic terrorism and what is going on here. Some of the groups, which the president encouraged, ended up coming up here, literally killing a Capitol Hill police officer and harming 140 other law enforcement officers. This sort of thing is unacceptable."

Former President Donald Trump will make his first public appearance at this week's CPAC conference in Florida, with reports indicating that he plans to enforce his control of the Republican Party, but Durbin dismissed the conference and its participants. 

"I wouldn't even consider walking through the door," he said. "It's a bunch of people with a theory and a conspiracy for every issue facing America."

He also slammed Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., for saying last week that the riot at the Capitol did not seem like an armed insurrection. 

"Ron Johnson is in his own orbit, politically," said Durbin. "Revisionism is something I loathe. For years, if there was a chapter in history that embarrassed them, they rewrote it and said it didn't happen. At this point in time, Republicans are trying to rewrite history. There is too much on the pavement in Washington, D.C. to ignore. We have paid a heavy price for the provocation of that mob by the president. If you think that's a partisan statement. It's the same thing said by Mitch McConnell."

Durbin also dismissed talk of there being a problem in the Senate because of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., disagreeing with some Democrat-championed votes. 

"Listen, we have a 50-50 problem," he said. "In the United States Senate, any senator can stop the train on either side of the aisle. I respect every senator making principle decisions on their own. Hopefully, we can come together and do something constructive for the American people. That's why we are sent here."

• FBI: Texan Charged in Capitol Riot Tweeted 'Assassinate AOC'
• AOC Hits Back After Critics Question Her Account of Capitol Riots