Pelosi readies bill to form panel for riot investigation
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that a proposed commission to study what went wrong in the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol must be “strongly bipartisan” and have the power to subpoena witnesses, similar to a commission that studied the 9/11 terrorist attacks and spurred major reforms in the intelligence community and beyond.
Pelosi said she is working on legislation to form a commission, with the details closely mirroring the bipartisan 9/11 panel that made sweeping recommendations in 2004 to prevent another terrorist attack like the ones in New York and Washington. The two chairmen of that panel, former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean and former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, wrote a letter to congressional leaders and President Joe Biden last week recommending they set up a commission to investigate and “establish a single narrative and set of facts to identify how the Capitol was left vulnerable, as well as corrective actions to make the institution safe again.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will support the commission. But to ensure Republican support, Pelosi said Democrats sent the proposal
to GOP leaders “to see what suggestions they may have because, for this to work, it really has to be strongly bipartisan.”
Legislation to stand up the commission could be introduced as soon as this week, according to a person familiar with the planning and granted anonymity to discuss it.
Neither House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, a close ally of the former president, nor Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been sharply critical of Trump’s role in the attacks, have said if they would support forming the commission.
Still, some Republicans have said they think such a commission is necessary alongside other efforts to investigate the attack.
“There should be a complete investigation about what happened,” said Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest allies, also said this weekend that he supports a commission “to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again.”