The riot at our nation’s Capital on January 6, 2021 was certainly a dark day in our history. While Republicans have moved forward by doing their jobs of legislating and voting, Democrats are dragging this out in hopes of solidifying their majority in the House.
House Democrats’ squawking on this issue is getting old. They have pushed through a second impeachment of President Donald Trump, criticized Capitol Police, tried to remove Republicans from office, made elected officials go through metal detectors to vote, and constructed fencing around the entire Capitol. Yet, this hasn’t appeased their appetite.
In order to keep this issue in the news, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) concocted another plan. She proposed H.R. 3233, the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act. This bill establishes a bipartisan group of House members to investigate the events of that day. The text of the bill explicitly gives 5 of the 10 seats to Republican members as appointed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Even with that seemingly generous offer, House Republicans could read between the lines.
H.R. 3233 passed the House in May with only 35 Republicans voting in favor. Shortly after, Leader McCarthy submitted the names of his 5 Republican picks: Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), and Troy Nehls (R-TX). Following by the rules was never Speaker Pelosi’s strong suit though. She objected to Reps. Banks and Jordan being on the committee claiming that they would jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. Rep. Jordan’s response shed light on her antics:
Why wasn’t more help there that day? And the only person who can answer that question is the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. And I think she thought we were going to keep raising that question and that’s why she didn’t put me on.
Leader McCarthy pulled all 5 of his picks from the commission. Speaker Pelosi quickly seated Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), two Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump.
This week, the commission began their partisan hearing. It has already been steeped in bias. Two attorneys representing Capitol Police officers have histories of drumming up drama for political gains. Both represented people who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, aided the 2016 investigation into the Trump campaign, and represented an anti-Trump whistleblower during the first impeachment process.
Then, Rep. Banks revealed that Gus Papathanasiou, head of the Capitol Police union, was shut out of the hearing because his account did not fit the Democrats’ narrative. He released a statement saying:
The police response to January 6th represents a disastrous collapse of leadership that was not simply an aberration confined to that one day. It was months and years in the making.
To fully understand why our officers felt so abandoned, requires an understanding of how they came to be left uninformed and lacking in defenses when it mattered most – when an attack on the U.S. Capitol was being fully realized.
Most importantly, we arrived at that position of vulnerability because the voices of the rank-and-file-officers had been ignored for years.
This is especially embarrassing for Speaker Pelosi because she oversees the management and funding of the Capitol Police.
We can expect the commission to continue their sweeping allegations that President Trump and Republicans are at fault. Democrats will also usurp court authority and subpoena whoever they wish just as they did during the impeachment trials. Speaker Pelosi never intended to create a bipartisan commission, rather one that further divides our nation.
Eagle Forum applauds Reps. Banks and Jordan who are bringing the truth to the American people about the January 6th Commission. We must fight against the left’s totalitarian tactics to remove American freedoms and ostracize conservatives.
