WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has signaled that she would be willing to create a new commission to investigate the Jan.6 assault on the Capitol, pushing for a partisan investigation into the attack afterward. that Republican senators blocked the creation of an independent inquiry.
A person familiar with the matter said after a meeting with Democrats that Pelosi had told her colleagues that she would create an investigative panel. The person spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss private conversations. However, Pelosi later denied it, telling reporters: “No, I did not make that announcement.”
Republican senators last month blocked an initiative to form an independent, bipartisan panel to investigate the attack by supporters of former President Donald Trump. After that, Pelosi said the House of Representatives would step up investigations into the assault, in which a violent crowd surpassed police, stormed the property and sought out lawmakers to try to prevent Joe Biden’s certification of victory. in the presidential elections.
A new commission of inquiry would put a majority of Democrats in charge of the investigation. More than 35 representatives and seven Republican senators said they wanted to avoid a partisan investigation and that they supported the proposal to form a commission that would have been modeled on a similar panel that investigated the attacks of September 11, 2001.
But those numbers weren’t strong enough to overcome opposition from the Republican Party in the Senate, where the backing of 10 Republicans is needed to pass most of the measures if all Democrats vote en bloc. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has said he could vote for a second vote after the bill failed last month, but there is no indication that Democrats can get the necessary support from three other Republicans.
A few days ago, Pelosi said that the House of Representatives “cannot wait any longer” and that she would proceed with the investigation. At that time, she indicated that she was considering creating a commission or having an existing commission carry out the investigation.
Many Republicans have made it clear that they want to put the January 6 assault behind them, dismissing many of the unanswered questions about the insurrection, including how the government and security forces overlooked the intelligence information that led to the riots and the Trump’s role before and during the assault.