Conservative Maryland governor  calls out 'absurd' Republican efforts to ‘whitewash’ the Jan. 6 insurrection

Some right-wing Republicans in Congress have been applauding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for moving ahead with a select committee on the January 6 insurrection, including Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming (who Pelosi has picked for her committee) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. But Cheney and Kinzinger are the minority, as most Republicans want to avoid having a serious discussion about January 6 because they are terrified of offending former President Donald Trump. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, however, is candidly speaking out about January 6 and is stressing that the violent insurrection should not be "whitewashed" by others in his party.

During an interview with CBS News' Major Garrett, Hogan — who is conservative but not a far-right MAGA extremist — declared, "We have to get to the bottom of exactly what happened (on January 6). And there's no whitewashing. We need to get all the facts and find out exactly what happened. But there's no way to just overlook this and say it didn't happen. The nonsense about 'these were just peaceful tourists' is completely absurd."

The far-right MAGA Republican who described the bloody January 6 insurrection as a "normal tourist visit" was Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia. Clyde also claimed that on January 6, "There was no insurrection" — which is equally ludicrous. The mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6 was trying to overthrow the democratic results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent Congress from certifying now-President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. And some of the insurrectionists had a hangman's noose outside the Capitol Building that was meant for then-Vice President Mike Pence, who the rioters believed had betrayed Trump.

January 6 was most definitely an attempted fascist coup d'état, right out of the Augusto Pinochet playbook.

Hogan praised Cheney during the interview, telling Garrett, "I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Liz Cheney. I think she showed a lot of courage when there were not too many examples of profiles of courage…. We need people like Liz Cheney in the Republican Party."

Hogan vowed to help Cheney in the 2022 midterms. The arch-conservative congresswoman is facing a tough GOP primary battle in Wyoming, where no less than seven MAGA Republicans are competing with her for the nomination.

The two-term Maryland governor also called out anti-vaccine attitudes on the right, agreeing with President Joe Biden that the more Americans get vaccinated for COVID-19, the better off the United States will be.

Hogan told Garrett, "It breaks my heart that we can't break through, and we can't convince some of these folks (to get vaccinated) because it's the simplest thing to do to keep you and your family and your loved ones safe."