
First on CNN: Former DHS secretaries tell Senate to 'put politics aside' and support January 6 commission
CNN
A group of former Homeland Security secretaries who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations is calling on the Senate "to put politics aside" and create a 9/11-style commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, according to a joint statement provided first to CNN.
The statement, released by former Homeland Security Secretaries Michael Chertoff, Tom Ridge, Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson, went on to say that "we must understand how the violent insurrection at the Capitol came together to ensure the peaceful transfer of power in our country is never so threatened again." The former secretaries' statement comes as Republicans have sought to block a bill that would create a January 6 commission, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell asking Republican senators to oppose the bill as a "personal favor" to him, CNN reported Thursday. A procedural vote on a bill creating the panel is expected to fail later Thursday.
The alleged drug traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were heading to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname — a small South American country east of Venezuela – the admiral who oversaw the operation told lawmakers on Thursday according to two sources with direct knowledge of his remarks.

The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.











