Senate Republicans whine that Capitol rioters are facing ‘unequal justice’ in letter to the DOJ

While there seemed to be a consensus on both sides of the political aisle in the immediate aftermath the riot at the U.S. Capitol, Republicans eventually drifted towards downplaying the attack, and even started pushing conspiracy theories of left-wing involvement -- a shift that gave Donald Trump an opening to glom on, where he insisted that the rioters posed "zero threat," and were merely "hugging and kissing the police and the guards."

According to MSNBC's Steve Benen, several Senate Republicans are "going to bat" for the rioters again, pressing Attorney General Merrick Garland on whether the attackers are being treated unfairly.

"DOJ's apparent unwillingness to punish these individuals who allegedly committed crimes during the spring and summer 2020 protests stands in stark contrast to the harsher treatment of the individuals charged in connection with the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C," the senators wrote in their letter.

"In other words, the GOP senators are deeply concerned about whether federal law enforcement treated racial-justice protesters better than members of the pro-Trump mob that attacked the seat of our democracy in order to hunt American elected officials and derail our system of elections," Benen writes.

Benen adds that Republicans are pushing a narrative that compares the sometimes violent racial justice protests that took place over the recent months to the Capitol attack and it's "quickly become a staple of Republican politics."

Read more over at MSNBC.