Pelosi calls for commission to probe Jan riot

WASHINGTON: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress must create an independent September 11-type commission to investigate the January 6 ransacking of the Capitol, now that former president Donald Trump’s impeachment trial has ended.

In a letter on Monday to fellow House Democrats, Pelosi said retired Army Lt Gen Russel Honore has already been reviewing security needs and will continue to make proposals to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

It is clear from his findings and from the impeachment trial that we must get to the truth of how this happened,” Pelosi wrote, without offering specifics on Honore’s proposals.

The next step will be to establish an outside panel to “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex,” she said.

Calls for a commission have gained new significance with the proceedings finished against Trump, who was accused of inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol as Congress prepared to certify the presidential election results.

Pelosi has previously called for such an outside commission, which would exclude current

House and Senate members and be patterned after the bipartisan panel created by Congress to investigate the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Pelosi has discussed such an investigative commission since the attack, and the approach has bipartisan support. Republicans on the House Administration Committee have introduced legislation to establish a commission of five Republicans and five Democrats to investigate what they called a “domestic terrorist attack.”

On Sunday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was among lawmakers in support, telling Fox News that “we need a 9/11 commission to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again”.

Some Trump allies signalled that Pelosi’s own actions may be up for review.

House Republicans including Jim Jordan, the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, said Monday in a letter to Pelosi that she must answer questions about her responsibility for the outcome. They asked what guidance her office give the sergeant at arms before the riot about security for the complex and about delays getting Capitol Police reinforcements after they were overrun.

Pelosi’s office on Monday provided few other details about the proposed panel.