President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s internal watchdog office, Don Berthiaume, repeatedly refused to use the word ‘attack’ to describe the violence on January 6, 2021, that disrupted Congress’ election certification vote.

Confirmation Hearing

During his confirmation hearing, Berthiaume told senators that he didn’t know if he would use the term ‘attack’ to describe the events of that day. Instead, he characterized it as ‘protest activity’ and ‘physical violence’ outside the Capitol.

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, had asked Berthiaume if the Capitol was attacked on January 6, and he grilled the nominee on why he would not agree to characterize the events of that day as an attack. Berthiaume stressed that he didn’t ‘agree’ with the term attack even as he acknowledged the ‘physical violence’ outside the Capitol that day.

The position of inspector general was created by Congress, among a host of post-Watergate reforms in the 1970s, to investigate waste, fraud and abuse within executive branch agencies. Berthiaume has experience working as an attorney within the Justice Department’s inspector general office, and has served in oversight roles at other agencies.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.