Pelosi introduces resolution to form select committee to investigate Capitol insurrection
(CNN)House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has introduced a resolution that will form a select committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection, a resolution which is expected to get a vote in the chamber later this week.
According to the resolution, the committee will be made up of 13 members.
Eight of those members will be appointed by Pelosi, five will be picked in consultation with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. While Pelosi did not tip her hand as to who she plans to choose to chair or serve on the committee, an aide tells CNN that she is seriously considering a Republican as one of her eight picks.
Pelosi chose to go the route of a select committee after Senate Republicans used a filibuster to block legislation that would’ve created an independent, bipartisan commission made up of members not currently serving in Congress. This select committee will now be run by House Democrats, have subpoena power and will not be given a strict deadline to finish its work.
“Senate Republicans did Mitch McConnell a ‘personal favor’ rather than their patriotic duty and voted against the bipartisan commission negotiated by Democrats and Republicans,” Pelosi said in a statement Monday. “But Democrats are determined to find the truth.”
It remains to be seen how cooperative McCarthy will be. His role on January 6 could be a focal point of any investigation. The California Republican called Trump as the former President’s supporters stormed the Capitol and asked him to tell them to “publicly and forcefully” call off the mob. GOP Rep. Jamie Herrera Butler said McCarthy told a group of Republican members of Congress that Trump refused to do so and told McCarthy that the rioters cared more about the election results than he did.
McCarthy has yet to fully recount that phone call in public but has said multiple times that he would be willing to testify in front of the commission or committee if asked.
“I have no problem talking to anybody about it,” McCarthy said last week. “I don’t know what the conversations that day would matter as that’s going on.”
McCarthy’s office did not respond to a CNN inquiry about the select committee.
The resolution could be voted on by the full House as soon as Wednesday. It will not require Senate approval.
Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_topstories/~3/DaskkjOjhm8/index.html
