US House backs bipartisan probe of Capitol riot
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to create a 9/11-style commission to look into the January 6 Capitol riot in Washington, DC.
As many as 35 Republicans supported the move, joining Democrats to hand former US president Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, a resounding rebuke by ignoring his appeal to reject such a panel.
The measure passed 252-175. It has to now secure the support of the evenly split Senate where at least 10 Republicans will need to join Democrats to see it through.
The legislation, which was negotiated by Democratic and Republican leaders of the House committee on homeland security, proposes to create a 10-member commission with five each from the two main parties, who will exercise equal powers of issuing subpoenas to summon witnesses.
Modelled on the commission that investigated the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, it will look into the storming of the US Capitol by a huge mob incited by Trump to prevent a joint session of Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump, who was impeached over the insurrection and has continued to falsely claim that he lost because of election fraud, had in a statement issued just hours before the vote called for Republicans to defeat the legislation, calling it “partisan unfairness”.
Charlie Crist, a Republican congressman who voted to pass the legislation, told CNN, “I voted for it is because when I saw the events of January 6, I saw a breakdown in communications. I saw a breakdown in coordination, in anticipation; and I want to get to the bottom of how our security forces allowed a breach of the people’s House, the Capitol.”
Crist is among 35 Republicans who rebuffed Trump’s appeal to vote against the legislation. There is growing opposition within the Republican Party to Trump and his control over the GOP.
It is a major increase from 10 House Republicans who had voted to impeach Trump for the US Capitol insurrection in January, which in itself was a huge leap from zero Republicans who had voted to impeach him in December 2019, when two Democrats had voted against the motion.