GOP leaders won't support committee to probe Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders say they will oppose the creation of a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol — and have so far declined to say whether they will even participate in the probe.
In a memo to all House Republicans late Tuesday, No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise said the House panel “is likely to pursue a partisan agenda” in investigating the violent attack by former President Donald Trump's supporters, and he encouraged Republicans to vote against it. A vote on a resolution that would create the panel is scheduled for Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Scalise declined to say whether members of his party would even agree to sit on the committee, telling reporters at a news conference that “I can't answer that question.” House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy also declined to say whether Republicans would participate.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited representatives of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia and the U.S. Capitol Police to sit in the gallery and watch Wednesday's vote, according to a person familiar with the plan who wasn't authorized to discuss it and spoke on condition of anonymity. Dozens of those officers were brutally beaten and suffered injuries as Trump's supporters pushed past them and broke into the building to interrupt the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.
The resolution introduced by the House speaker on Monday would have eight members on the committee appointed by Pelosi and five appointed “after consultation” with McCarthy — meaning Pelosi could potentially have veto power over every appointment to the panel.
Republican participation in the investigation, and the appointments to the panel, could help determine whether the committee becomes a bipartisan effort or instead a hotbed of division. Two Senate committees issued a bipartisan report with security recommendations earlier this month, but it did not examine the origins of the siege.
Two of the officers who responded to the attack, Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone and Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, met with McCarthy on Friday and asked him to take the House investigation seriously.
Pelosi moved to form the committee after Senate Republicans blocked an independent, bipartisan panel that would have been modeled after the commission that investigated the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She said it was her preference to have an independent panel lead the inquiry, but Congress could not wait any longer to begin a deeper look at the insurrection.
Many Republicans have expressed concerns about a partisan probe, since majority Democrats are likely to investigate Trump's role in the siege and the right-wing groups that participated in it. Almost three dozen House Republicans voted last month for the legislation to create an independent commission, which would have had an even partisan split among members.
