Democrats weigh next steps on Jan. 6 probe

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) huddled Tuesday with key committee heads to mull a strategy for investigating the Capitol attack of Jan. 6.

They later emerged in the same spot as before: vowing further examination into the deadly riot but without a concrete plan for doing so.

“When we’re ready, we will make an announcement,” Pelosi told reporters after the closed-door meeting.

Pelosi last month laid out different scenarios Democrats might pursue following the Senate defeat of their preferred investigative strategy: the establishment of a 9/11-style independent commission to probe the causes of the mob attack and make recommendations for preventing similar violence in the future.

While they continue weighing their options, they’ve landed on an intermediary plan. 

“Each committee’s going to work within its own jurisdiction, and we’re going to consider a select committee,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, explained after the gathering.

“I personally favor [a select committee], but no final decision’s been made,” he continued. “We’re just looking into all different ways of doing it.”

While they develop their longer-term strategy, Pelosi said there will be a “cascade of activity” as the House Homeland Security, Judiciary, Intelligence, Oversight, Appropriations and Administration committees continue to carry out their Jan. 6 investigations already underway. As part of that effort, the Oversight and Reform Committee held a hearing Tuesday examining the delayed response of the National Guard after the assault on the Capitol.

Complicating Pelosi’s final verdict about a path forward, rank-and-file Democrats are all over the board when it comes to which option they favor.

Many are joining Nadler in calling for the creation of a select committee, composed of lawmakers from both parties and equipped with subpoena authority. 

Others want to empower one existing committee, like Homeland Security, to take the lead of a deep-dive investigation, perhaps using similar parameters as those outlined in the independent commission proposal.

At least one Democrat, Rep. Gerry Connolly (Va.), is still pressing for President Biden to form an investigative commission unilaterally — an idea both Pelosi and the White House have resisted.

And still others are hoping Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) will stage another vote on the outside commission, which fell just three votes shy of defeating a GOP filibuster last month.

“We want to get answers but we want to do it the right way,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a Pelosi ally who served as a prosecutor in the second Trump impeachment trial. “I think it’s important to find out what happened, but I don’t want to rush if we have an opportunity to get a good Senate vote.”

Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) acknowledged the likelihood that three GOP senators would flip their votes in a second round is small. “I’m not hopeful,” she said.

But such a vote would again put Senate Republicans in the difficult position of rejecting a probe into the historic breach of the U.S. Capitol — the first such incident since the War of 1812 — and highlight GOP efforts to defend former President Trump, whose lies about a “stolen” election helped instigate the attack.

“We waited, gave them another shot at it to see who’s on which side,” Escobar said. “Those are really important markers for history.”

Connolly hasn’t thrown in the towel on the idea of a Biden-created presidential commission, but it’s received a cool reception from both the White House and Pelosi. A former Biden Senate staffer, Connolly said he believes a presidential commission would be seen as less partisan than a special House committee where both Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) could stack it with party loyalists.

Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) said she’s “not opposed” to the idea of a White House commission but cautioned that it could be seen as “one president’s commission exploring the past president, who could attempt to be his [2024] opponent.”

Dean, another prosecutor in Trump’s second impeachment trial, called it “baffling” why Republicans are blocking the independent commission.

“It’s not even rational. What’s their motivation? What are they covering up? What are they complicit in?” asked a frustrated Dean. “And how tethered are you to this failed president that you’re willing to sacrifice our democracy?”

As the debate evolves, some are warning that the longer Democrats wait to finalize their investigative plans, the tougher it’ll be to realize them.

“I think especially because many folks would like to see it end by the end of the calendar year, that means the longer we delay, the more elusive that deadline becomes,” said Escobar. “We have to do something and I think we have to move quickly.”