House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she is creating a select committee to investigate the causes of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and recommend ways to prevent what she termed an “insurrection” from happening again.
The move was expected, though Mrs. Pelosi previously denied reports that she had decided to create the select committee after Senate Republicans killed a bill to create an independent commission to study the riot.
“I have no intention of walking away from our responsibility,” Mrs. Pelosi said when announcing plans to create the Democrat-run select committee.
Republicans are expected to oppose the select committee and label it a purely political exercise to blame former President Donald Trump and the GOP for the Jan. 6 violence. That is the same argument they made in opposing the independent commission.
Indeed, Mrs. Pelosi said the commission will examine questions that appear aimed at implicating Mr. Trump, who was impeached by the House for incited the riot but acquitted by the Senate.
Mrs. Pelosi said the committee will in part examine the root causes of that day, including “white supremacy, antisemitism and Islamophobia,” all things Democrats have accused Mr. Trump of having whipped up.
Describing what the committee will examine Mrs. Pelosi is already laying blame on Mr. Trump.
“While I think we could have been better prepared, I don’t think anyone could have foreseen an insurrection incited by the president of the United States,” she said.
Asked by reporters whether she fears the committee’s finding will be dismissed as a political hit job, Mrs. Pelosi laid the blame on “cowardly” Senate Republicans who refused to examine a “day of darkness for our country.”
Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Ben Sasse of Nebraska broke with GOP leaders to support the proposed commission, which would have had with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, both with subpoena power.
Mrs. Pelosi said she has been waiting to see if a bipartisan commission could be resurrected in the Senate. After seeing no signs of hope, she said she decided to move forward with a select committee.
“I asked, ‘Is there a chance for it to pass?’ We gave it some time. ‘Not soon. Not likely,’” she said.
Senate Republicans, though, have argued that the left has also been the cause of recent political violence and demanded any probe include an examination of the riots stemming from last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests.
Mrs. Pelosi dismissed the idea.
“They wanted to make it about Black Lives Matter. That’s not what happened on Jan. 6,” she said.
The makeup of the select committee was not immediately clear, though Mrs. Pelosi said that she hopes Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will appoint “responsible people” to the committee.
Mrs. Pelosi also gave no deadline for the committee to report its findings to Congress.
“As long as it takes — the time they need to do the investigation,” she said.
