Jan. 6 Commission Will Be DOA in Senate - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Jan. 6 Commission Will Be DOA in Senate
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Protesters at Capitol Hill, Jan. 6, 2021 (lev radin/Shutterstock.com)

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution authorizing a probe into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. All too predictably, the “National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act” (HR 3233) would be neither bipartisan nor independent. The Democratic chairperson of the commission would enjoy unilateral power to appoint staff and set the investigation’s parameters without meaningful consultation with the Republican co-chair. Even worse, the “compromise” that created HR 3233 was cobbled together by Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and John Katko (R-N.Y.), both of whom already voted in January to impeach then-President Trump for inciting “insurrection.”

Inevitably, the purpose of the commission is less about conducting a legitimate inquiry into the riot than pursuing a political vendetta against Trump. Comments by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) confirmed that the exercise is all about the Bad Orange Man: “Republicans in both chambers are trying to rewrite history in fealty to—or in fear of—the former president, Donald Trump.” But even Trump antagonists like GOP Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) are queasy about the commission and moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who favors an inquiry, objects to the lopsided power arrangement associated with this probe. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) described it as follows:

House Democrats have handled this proposal in partisan bad faith going right back to the beginning. From initially offering a laughable starting point to continuing to insist on various features under the hood that are designed to centralize control over the commission’s process and its conclusions in Democratic hands.… It’s not at all clear what new facts or additional investigation yet another commission could actually lay on top of existing efforts by law enforcement and Congress. The facts have come out and they’ll continue to come out.

Nonetheless, according to a report in the Hill, “Senate Democrats are moving quickly to set up a vote on the House-passed bill to create a commission investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.” Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer continued his attempt to bully GOP senators into backing the commission. “My Senate Republican colleagues must now ask themselves: Are they going to join us in pursuing the truth, or are they going to cover for Donald Trump and his big lie?” The chances that enough senators will respond positively to such ridiculous hyperbole are infinitesimal, however. In order for the Senate to pass the bill, Schumer will need the votes of at least 10 Republicans, and few will be persuaded by Schumer’s verbal abuse.

Yet that is the strategy that Schumer has adopted. If he and his Democratic accomplices were really after the truth concerning the January mayhem, they would stop claiming that the Capitol was broken into and overrun by armed insurrectionists. This video, posted two days after the riot, clearly shows Capitol police opening the doors for calm protesters and standing aside to let them in. Obviously some bad actors entered the building, and that is why an honest commission should be created. The Democrats have no interest in such a commission because their goal is about destroying Donald Trump. Thus, as Julie Kelly writes at American Greatness, they continue to stand up in Congress and repeat long-debunked lies:

The dramatic rhetoric about truth and facts comes amid a rapidly disintegrating narrative related to the Capitol breach — it wasn’t “armed,” it wasn’t an “insurrection,” it didn’t result in the deaths of five people, and it wasn’t orchestrated by “domestic violent extremists”.… But the most heinous lie about January 6, by far, is the one surrounding what happened to Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who passed away at the age of 42 on January 7.… Brian Sicknick did not die of anything related to the mayhem at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

This was reported more than a month ago by the Washington Post, quoting the medical examiner to the effect that there was no evidence that Sicknick suffered internal or external injuries and that he hadn’t suffered an allergic reaction to any chemical irritants such as pepper spray. Yet prominent Democrats and at least one Republican stood on the floor of the House Wednesday and repeated the lie. This parade of prevarication included Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Val Demings (D-Fla.), and the resolution’s sponsors, Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and John Katko (R-N.Y.). How can GOP senators vote for anything proposed by such profoundly dishonest people?

They obviously can’t. This is unfortunate. The Jan. 6 riot clearly wasn’t an attempt to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power from Trump to Biden, yet there was more to the mayhem than a few rambunctious meatheads wearing goofy hats and face paint. Some of us would like to know why two Capitol police officers committed suicide shortly after the riot and who killed unarmed veteran Ashli Babbitt. Oddly, the Democrats have little interest in these mysteries and have no intention of allowing any Republican foolish enough to serve on their commission to inquire into these matters. Thus, the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act will be DOA when it reaches the Senate.

David Catron
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David Catron is a recovering health care consultant and frequent contributor to The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter at @Catronicus.
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