Sen Schmitt schools J6-obsessed Dick Durbin on leftist domestic terrorism in hearing on political violence

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on Tuesday entitled "Politically Violent Attacks: A Threat to Our Constitutional Order," during which Ranking Member Dick Durbin claimed that right-wing violence has been more prevalent in recent years than left-wing violence, citing a study that Chair Eric Schmitt noted had a "flawed methodology" that excluded violence undertaken at protests

In his opening statement, Durbin said, "At the outset, I want to recognize law enforcement who are here today, including those who defended the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the family members of those who are no longer with us. Ken Sicknick, brother of fallen officer Brian Sicknick, is here. He reminds us, and I quote, 'the simple act of not letting the events of that day be whitewashed, revised or forgotten, is more important than anyone can ever know.' That statement by Mr. Sicknick rings true, painfully true today."

"This hearing examines a critical issue: political violence in America," said Durbin, adding that "as I’ve said before over and over from this podium and I will repeat, violence is not acceptable, whatever the source or origin."

He said that he does not believe "that one party owns the right to say it’s the other party’s fault," and that it’s "the fault of both parties, differing degrees, and it’s our fault if we try to whitewash that reality, to seriously address this problem, we must be honest. We must start with the facts, not with partisan conclusions. To claim, as the chairman of the subcommittee has, and I quote, 'political violence comes predominantly from one side of the aisle, and don't give me this both sides BS' is not supported by the facts. In fact, those facts tell a different story."

Durbin said that data from the FBI and DHS, as well as "nonpartisan experts," show that "far right extremists have been responsible for most domestic terrorism." He showed a chart from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which showed that "since 2016, 112 people have been killed as a result of right-wing attacks, while three have died as a result of left-wing attacks."

"These are not partisan talking points, they are the facts established by federal law enforcement and national security efforts across numerous administrations, both Democratic and Republican."

After Durbin concluded his remarks, vowing to "never forget January 6," Chair Schmitt said, "I want to point out that the CSIS study that’s been mentioned here in repeated ad nauseum excluded violence at protests from their study, allowing them to systematically ignore Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots, but they did make an exception for Charlottesville, interestingly."

"Even using their flawed methodology, CSIS recently reported that left-wing violence in 2025 outpaces right-wing violence. Imagine how much bigger that disparity would be if they actually weren’t cooking the books."