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House Backs Creation of Commission on Jan. 6 Capitol Riot
Former President Trump and GOP leaders urged Republicans to oppose the bill
Rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6.PHOTO: LEAH MILLIS/REUTERS
By
Lindsay Wise
and
Kristina Peterson
Updated May 19, 2021 7:06 pm ET
WASHINGTON—The House passed a bill Wednesday authorizing a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 pro-Trump assault on the U.S. Capitol, but the proposal could stall in the Senate after GOP leaders in Congress and former President Donald Trump urged Republicans to reject it.
For the second time in a week, House Republicans found themselves facing a contentious vote that Mr. Trump has framed as a test of their loyalty, even as the party tries to focus on more unifying topics: criticism of the Biden administration and winning next year’s midterm elections.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), shown Tuesday in Washington, D.C., said on Wednesday the House proposal for a Jan. 6 commission would give Democrats too much control over the process.PHOTO: ROD LAMKEY/CNP/ZUMA PRESS
The vote was 252 to 175. Thirty-five Republicans voted with Democrats to approve the commission, bucking their party leaders and Mr. Trump. The number was larger than many on the Hill expected.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) had declared his opposition to the House bill earlier Wednesday, joining House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) in dismissing the commission as unnecessary and unfair.
Mr. McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor that after careful consideration, he had come to the conclusion that the House bill was a “slanted and unbalanced proposal.” He pointed to other investigations under way by law-enforcement officials and in Congress and said he sees no need for another.
President Biden supports the commission, which needs 60 votes to advance in the 50-50 Senate before coming to his desk for his signature.
That means at least 10 Republican senators would need to vote with all Democrats, a high bar given Mr. McConnell’s position. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has pledged to bring the House bill to the floor for a vote.
The legislation was the product of negotiations between the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Democrat Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, and the panel’s top-ranking Republican, John Katko of New York. Modeled on the probe carried out by the 9/11 Commission following the 2001 terrorist attacks, the panel would have five members appointed by Democratic leaders and five by Republican leaders, with shared responsibility for issuing subpoenas.
“I strongly believe this is a fair and necessary legislation,” Mr. Katko said before the vote Wednesday. “I encourage all members, Republicans and Democrats alike, to put down their swords for once, just for once, and support this bill.”
The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus had endorsed the commission, saying the plan had won support from more than 75% of the 58-member group. But it is strongly opposed by Mr. McCarthy and other House GOP leaders, who have said it is counterproductive and too narrowly focused on the events of Jan. 6, when supporters of Mr. Trump stormed the Capitol to try to stop ratification of Mr. Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Republican Rep. John Katko of New York, shown last month, on Wednesday before the vote on the commission said, ‘I strongly believe this is a fair and necessary legislation.’
PHOTO: CAROLINE BREHMAN/ZUMA PRESS
Rep. John Curtis (R., Utah) said he shared some of Mr. McCarthy’s concerns, but decided to vote for the legislation anyway.
“It’s not an easy vote, given the things that we see as problematic in it, but I’m hoping that some of those are worked out in the Senate,” he said. “I’d like to see a commission.”
The language agreed upon by Messrs. Katko and Thompson states the focus of the commission will be “the domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol and targeted violence and domestic terrorism relevant to such terrorist attack.” Mr. Katko has said that scope could include events that occurred before or after the date Jan. 6, if the commissioners choose.
Messrs. McCarthy and McConnell have said the commission should examine political violence broadly defined, including the death of a Capitol police officer who was rammed by a car on April 2 and riots during racial-justice protests last summer.
Mr. McConnell had told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that he was open to hearing arguments for and against the commission. Late Tuesday, Mr. Trump issued a statement warning Republicans in the House and Senate not to approve the commission and calling it a “Democratic trap.” He added: “Hopefully, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are listening!”
Mr. Trump’s insertion of himself into his party’s debate over the commission comes a week after House Republicans ousted Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) from her leadership post by voice vote.
Mr. Trump had issued multiple statements attacking Ms. Cheney and backing Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) to take her place as GOP conference chair. Mr. McCarthy and other critics of Ms. Cheney said her insistence on publicly refuting Mr. Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him were out of step with the party, and a distraction from their efforts to win a majority in 2022.
After deciding to back the removal of Ms. Cheney earlier this month, Mr. McCarthy this week appeared to undercut Mr. Katko, even after Mr. Katko secured many of the GOP’s demands in structuring the commission. Mr. McCarthy called GOP lawmakers in an effort to align them against the bill, and House GOP leadership issued a formal recommendation for their members to vote no.
Both Mr. Katko and Ms. Cheney voted to impeach Mr. Trump in the House for inciting insurrection against the U.S. government on Jan. 6—the Senate later acquitted Mr. Trump—but Mr. Katko has taken a dramatically different approach from Ms. Cheney’s since then. One of the House’s more reserved Republicans, he keeps a low profile and hasn’t criticized Mr. Trump in high-profile venues.
“John [Katko] was thrown under the bus,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R., Ill.), a critic of Mr. Trump and supporter of the commission. “Some people just want to put this behind us like it was a decade ago. But it wasn’t.”
Mr. Thompson said on Wednesday that he and Mr. Katko had taken pains to keep House Republican leadership informed during their talks, and he said it was unfortunate that Mr. McCarthy was distancing himself from the result of those negotiations.
“But I guess that’s politics,” he said.
Lawmakers said the month’s events cemented Mr. McCarthy’s strategy to closely align himself with Mr. Trump ahead of next year’s midterms, which could elevate him to House speaker if Republicans win the majority.
On Wednesday morning, Mr. McCarthy lobbied about a dozen Republican senators, including Mr. McConnell. Mr. McCarthy argued that the commission would be tilted in favor of Democrats, saying that the staff would be hired by the Democratic-appointed chairman without any guarantee of Republican input, and that the commission probably couldn’t get started until late 2021, according to one Republican senator who attended the meeting.
“That’s way too late,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R., S.D.), who a day earlier had expressed support for a commission. Mr. Rounds said that he, like Mr. McConnell, is now opposed.
In his speech Wednesday, Mr. McConnell criticized what he said was a bad-faith effort by Democrats to insist on “features under the hood, better designed to centralize control over the Commission’s process and its conclusions in Democratic hands.” On Tuesday he had said his staff had flagged a concern that the Democratic-appointed chair of the commission could control all the staff hiring.
Mr. Katko said Wednesday that it was “simply not true” that a Democratically-appointed chair would control staff hires. He said the bill requires consultation between the chair and the Republican-appointed vice chair on hiring, which must adhere to rules set by the bipartisan commission as a whole.
The No. 2 Senate Republican, John Thune of South Dakota, told reporters Wednesday that while some Republican senators are supportive of a commission, others worry that it could be used against the GOP in next year’s midterm elections, particularly if the report slips into next year.
Mr. Thune said the question is whether the probe will be a “fair process that fully examines the facts around Jan. 6 in an objective way and doesn’t become a political weapon in the hands of the Democrats.”
Several congressional committees are already investigating the government’s planning and response to the riot, and the internal watchdogs of four government agencies have also launched reviews of officials’ actions. In addition, the Justice Department’s criminal probe has led to charges against more than 400 people of offenses stemming from the Jan. 6 attack.
The FBI arrested six people on Wednesday, the department said, including a Pittsburgh-area woman accused of saying she wanted to hang House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.). The charges against the six include violent entry, trespassing, and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
—Siobhan Hughes and Sadie Gurman contributed to this article.
Write to Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com and Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com |
