Nominee for DOJ watchdog refused to call Jan. 6 violence an ‘attack’ on the Capitol | CNN Politics

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s internal watchdog office repeatedly refused in his confirmation hearing to use the word “attack” to describe the violence on January 6, 2021, that disrupted Congress’ election certification vote. “I don’t know if I would use the term ‘attack,’” Don Berthiaume, the nominee to be the DOJ inspector general, told senators on Wednesday. “I mean, we had activity outside the Capitol —protests and such — and there was violence on the Capitol grounds.” 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. “There was protest activity, people went to the Capitol grounds. People entered the Capitol building, which is contrary – as far as I know – to law,” Berthiaume said, while stressing that he didn’t “agree” with the term attack even as he acknowledged the “physical violence” outside the Capitol that day. “The term attack — to me — seems to imply that there was a coordinated effort to attack specific things,” the