Since Republicans refuse to allow a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the Capitol insurrection, House Democrats are preparing to launch an investigation without them.
It’s been a week since Senate Republicans used the filibuster to block the creation of a 1/6 commission. Republicans are desperate to “move on” from the attempted coup disgraced former President Donald Trump incited in a scheme to overthrow democracy. A thorough investigation would likely reveal just how deeply involved Republican lawmakers were with the insurrection, which would look bad heading into the 2022 midterms.
Democrats, however, and a majority of Americans, are not willing to let the GOP off the hook so easily.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose life was threatened by the insurrectionists as QAnon Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Co.) live-tweeted her exact location as Trump supporters stormed the building on January 6th, outlined the options for how Democrats could proceed.
Pelosi, on call, tells Dems re Jan. 6 probe that they can either:
1) Push for another Senate vote on commission
2) Create select committee
3) Allow existing committees to probe Jan. 6
4) Ensure one committee, like House Homeland, “take charge of investigation,” per source on call— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 1, 2021
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) suggested Attorney General Merrick Garland name a special counsel to investigate the coup attempt, a move that should happen since we are talking about a terrorist attack on the Capitol that may have been orchestrated by some Republican members of Congress.
Jeffries laid out a number of options and also floated Garland naming a special counsel to probe Jan. 6, per multiple sources. (There’s no indication Garland will name a special counsel)
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 1, 2021
Democrats could create a select committee to investigate the January 6th insurrection in the same way Republicans created a select committee to investigate the Benghazi attack. Of course, Republicans used the Benghazi probe to persecute former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to hurt her 2016 presidential aspirations. In the end, Republicans had zero evidence to implicate Clinton in any wrongdoing. The same could not be said of Republican involvement in the Capitol insurrection.
Republicans certainly are not going to support any detailed investigation into why the insurrection occurred and how it unfolded. So Democrats are going to have to do it themselves.
The bottom line: House Democrats are ready to probe Jan. 6. They are just trying to sort out the structure for doing it.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 1, 2021
Republicans must be held accountable for the insurrection. They incited it. They supported it. And now they are desperate to cover it up. The country deserves to know why. Any Republicans who participated in any way with the coup attempt should be barred from serving in Congress via the 14th Amendment and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
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