With 9/11-style commission stalled, Nancy Pelosi plans completely partisan probe of Capitol riot and surrounding events



With her pipe dream of launching a bipartisan "independent 9/11-type commission" to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol foiled, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) is reportedly moving on to a "Plan B" that won't require Republican cooperation.

The House speaker is said to be making arrangements for an entirely partisan probe to unearth the secret influences that she believes led to the incident, which Democratic lawmakers view as an attempted insurrection and a domestic terror attack instigated by former President Donald Trump.

In the new plan, according to Politico, Pelosi aims to effectively cut Republican influence out of the process by "tapping three House committees, run by Democrats, to do their own probe of how a violent, pro-Trump mob managed to overwhelm police and terrorize legislators."

So much for bipartisanship. Though it should be noted Pelosi's draft proposal for the grand commission would have given Democrats a 7-4 majority on the investigatory panel, anyway. In addition to that, Republicans in Congress suspected from the start that any 9/11-style commission into the incident spearheaded by Democrats would quickly turn into a political witch hunt.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said as much last month when he threw cold water on the proposal, characterizing it as "partisan by design." He shot back at Pelosi by insisting that any "broader analysis of toxic political violence" must include a review of the Black Lives Matter riots that destroyed cities across the country last year.

According to Politico, even with talks stalled, Pelosi is still hopeful a commission can be formed and has recently circulated a "discussion draft" on the proposal to colleagues. But the House speaker is prepared to move on if no headway is made, the news outlet reported:

The speaker has made clear that her patience is not unlimited. And an aide indicated that the California Democrat is prepared to task the House Administration, Homeland Security and Appropriations committees with taking on the Jan. 6 inquiry if there are no bipartisan breakthroughs soon. The Appropriations panel has already gotten a head start, holding hearings on the Capitol Police budget that featured questions about the force's role in the response to the attack.

It's worth wondering whether Pelosi's partisan "Plan B" was her "Plan A" all along, given that the chances of a bipartisan commission being formed were always quite low.

After all, the House speaker's inclinations about what, or who, spurred on the attack would never have been embraced by Republicans in Congress. In a podcast conversation shortly after the riot, Pelosi and failed 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton floated a conspiracy theory that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin worked together to plan the attack.

Nancy Pelosi announces plans for 'independent 9/11-type commission' to investigate Capitol siege



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced plans Monday to form an "independent 9/11-type commission" to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building, including the security breakdowns that led to the complex being overrun.

Meanwhile, House Republicans are asking Pelosi to answer questions about her own "responsibility for the security" of the U.S. Capitol.

What are the details?

In a letter to House Democrats, the speaker reminded her caucus that retired General Russel Honoré has worked at Pelosi's direction over the past few weeks on "assessing our security needs by reviewing what happened on January 6 and how we must ensure that it does not happen again."

The speaker wrote:

It is clear from his findings and from the impeachment trial that we must get to the truth of how this happened. To protect our security...our next step will be to establish an outside independent 9/11-type Commission to 'investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex...and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power, including facts and causes relating to the preparedness and response of the United States Capitol Police and other Federal, State, and local law enforcement in the National Capitol Region."

Fox News reported that the same day as Pelosi's announcement, the speaker received a letter from four Republican ranking members on House committees who are demanding answers from the speaker about her "responsibility for the security" of the Capitol on Jan. 6.

GOP Reps. Rodney Davis (Ill.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), James Comer (Ky.), and Devin Nunes (Calif.) wrote to Pelosi that "many important questions" regarding her role in security measures "remain unanswered" such as why then-Capitol Police Chief Steve Sund's Jan. 4 request for National Guard assistance ahead of a planned Jan. 6 Trump rally was denied.

The outlet reported that "Pelosi's office fired back at the Republicans on Monday, claiming the security of the Capitol and democracy are 'not the priorities of these ranking members,' while saying 'the Committees of Jurisdiction were briefed in advance of January 6 about security preparedness.'"

Anything else?

Reuters noted:

More than 200 people have been charged with federal crimes in the bloody assault on Congress, which led to [former President Donald] Trump's impeachment trial on a charge of inciting insurrection. Trump was acquitted on Saturday on a vote of 57-43, as seven Republican senators joined Democrats in favor of conviction, though short of the required majority.