UPDATE - US Senate Republicans block Jan. 6 Capitol riot commission

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Senate Republicans blocked on Friday the creation of an independent bipartisan panel to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol carried out by former US President Donald Trump's supporters.

The 54-35 procedural vote fell six votes short of the 60-vote threshold to advance the bill in the chamber after it cleared the House of Representatives earlier in May. Republicans Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman, Mitt Romney and Ben Sasse joined Democrats in voting for the bill.

In all, 10 Republicans and one Democrat did not vote.

Trump, who called the insurrectionists "great patriots" during the insurrection, warned his fellow Republicans that the panel was a "Democrat trap." Friday's vote signals his continuing hold over the party even after he lost November's national election by over 7 million votes.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer assailed Republicans, saying "Donald Trump’s Big Lie has now fully enveloped the Republican Party."

It "is now the defining principle of what was once the party of Lincoln," he added on Twitter.

The top Democrat was referring to Trump's repeated unsubstantiated claims that he lost the election due to widespread voter fraud, a suggestion Republican election officials in key battleground states and his former attorney general said lacks evidence.

The claims motivated Trump's supporters to overrun the Capitol on Jan. 6 when lawmakers were convening to carry out a constitutionally-mandated step ahead of US President Joe Biden's inauguration.

Four people died that day at the Capitol, and a law enforcement officer died the follow day after suffering two strokes. Two other officers present during the riot took their own lives in the aftermath.