35 Republicans Defy Trump And GOP Leaders To Push Capitol Riots Probe

[Shabibilicious]

35 Republicans Defy Trump and GOP Leaders to Push Capitol Riots Probe

 

 

Sam Brodey, Matt Fuller

Wed, May 19, 2021, 6:53 PM

 

 

 

Alex Wong

Over the objections of GOP leaders, the House passed a bill Wednesday that would create a bipartisan and independent commission to examine the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The House voted 252-175, with 35 Republicans joining all Democrats in support of the bill.

With 35 House Republicans voting for the commission, there’s a possibility Democrats in the Senate can find enough Republicans there to support the panel, but the odds are long. While the number of GOP defections is a bit of an embarrassment for Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and his leadership team, it’s probably not quite the jailbreak that Democrats needed to convince their Senate colleagues to go against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

 

Democrats would need 10 Republicans to overcome a GOP filibuster for 60 votes in the Senate, otherwise the bill establishing the commission won’t make it to President Joe Biden’s desk.

Still, Democrats found themselves surprised at the number of GOP defections. “That’s a good showing,” Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) told The Daily Beast. “It should be everyone. But given the death grip Donald Trump has on his party, I think it’s encouraging.”

Debate in the House on Wednesday was mostly one-sided. More Republicans spoke in support of the commission than those who spoke against it. But the GOP arguments against the legislation were particularly divorced from reality.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) implored Democrats to start being bipartisan and stop using “every tool as a partisan stick to beat Republicans.”

“Look, things have changed a lot since the 9/11 commission,” Gohmert said, “because back then, we did not have a problem on both—either side of the aisle condemning anti-semitic remarks.”

Fellow Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy argued that an independent commission was unnecessary because Congress already has committees that could subpoena people and investigate Jan. 6.

“Let's use the powers that we have and the powers of this body and the committees we have to seek the truth to the information wherever it may lead,” Roy said.

But Democrats and some Republicans contended that an independent and high-profile commission—like the one Congress created after 9/11—was an important step toward accountability and future safety.

Schiff invoked that example to justify the Jan. 6 commission. He told The Daily Beast that Congress did important work to probe 9/11 but that the commission brought “tremendous added value” because it was outside the political process and was staffed with trusted figures.

“That's what we need here, so that the recommendations that come out of the commission will be broadly accepted by the public,” Schiff said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) particularly took offense to the GOP contention that the commission ought to broaden its scope to all sorts of political violence, not just the violence that occurred on Jan. 6.

“It's vital that Congress establish a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate January 6. Not some other date,” Hoyer said. “That does not absolve any wrongdoing anywhere, any time. But it says that this unique insurrection is a danger to our democracy. Not to Republicans and Democrats. To our democracy. To our Congress. To the people's House and the United States Senate, which was occupied."

Rep. John Katko (R-NY)—the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee who brokered the deal—also spoke in support of the bill, saying an independent commission was “critical for removing the politics around January 6.”

“The American people and the Capitol Police deserve answers and action as soon as possible to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” Katko said. “We must find answers to the many questions surrounding that day.”

All of this drama to create a bipartisan commission comes after four months of negotiations and a flurry of recent opposition from GOP leaders.

After Katko finalized a deal with Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) last week to create the commission, McCarthy promptly blew it up on Tuesday.

And although McConnell said later in the day on Tuesday that he was undecided, he woke up on Wednesday and himself called the proposal “slanted and unbalanced.”

The only thing that had seemed to change was that former President Donald Trump issued a statement Tuesday night calling the commission “partisan unfairness.”

While McConnell and Republican allies tried to come up with reasons on Wednesday why that was the case, their rationales didn’t seem to match up with the legislation.

The bill that the House passed Wednesday would create an independent commission composed of 10 people outside of government—five to be picked by Democratic leaders, and five to be picked by Republican leaders. The commission would have subpoena power, but only if the Democratic chair and GOP vice chair agreed, or absent that agreement, if a majority of the commission approved.

The one item of imbalance Republicans focused on Wednesday was the composition of the staff, which also seemed to be a mostly imagined complaint. The language for hiring staff was almost identical to the bipartisan 9/11 commission, as well as a bill from January establishing an independent commission that had more than 30 GOP cosponsors.

But not long after McConnell’s speech against the legislation Wednesday, those senators who had been undecided, or even supportive, changed their tune.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who said on Tuesday that the insurrection could not be “swept under any rug,” said on Wednesday that he’d changed his mind after hearing directly from McCarthy. “Leadership in the House says it’s not bipartisan in nature,” Rounds said, even though the bill was the product of negotiations between Katko and Thompson—with McCarthy’s backing.

After Trump, McCarthy, and McConnell all came out in opposition to the commission, GOP leaders began explicitly laying out a key concern that’s percolated for weeks: that such a commission would damage them politically. “A lot of our members, and I think this is true of a lot of House Republicans, want to be moving forward and not looking backward,” said Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate. “Anything that gets us rehashing the 2020 elections I think is a day lost on being able to draw a contrast between us and the Democrats’ very radical left-wing agenda.”

The 10 Republican votes needed to pass the bill in the Senate, then, will now be much tougher for Democrats to win. Even senators who would be the building blocks of any bipartisan vote, like Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), have said they want to see changes to the commission as it is structured.

The Senate GOP’s widespread opposition potentially sets up something momentous: the minority’s first use of the legislative filibuster since Democrats took power in January. The symbolism in such a move is not lost on Democrats. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told The Daily Beast such a move would be in line with the GOP’s intent to filibuster voting rights legislation. “They’re just interested in blocking,” he said.

Democrats on both sides of the Capitol say they will plow ahead though, even if the path to establishing the commission is unclear.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) vowed on Wednesday to put the House’s bill to a vote, no matter what. And Hoyer told reporters that Democrats would find a lane for the review somehow—even if it meant creating a special committee in the House.

That would be a far more diminished version of the commission outlined in the bill, however.

Republicans have pointed to ongoing reviews of the Jan. 6 attack being conducted by congressional committees and various agencies from the federal government, saying their work would be more than sufficient in uncovering what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

But Rep. Tim Ryan (R-OH), who chairs the House committee that oversees the Capitol Police, said Wednesday that would not be enough. “We're trying to govern the country, so we're trying to set this up,” Ryan said. “If there’s something better, be a part of it.”

“If we can’t get Republican votes on this,” Ryan added, “it’s indicative of what’s to come.”

 

https://news.yahoo.com/house-passes-bill-creating-jan-225356416.html

 

GO RV, then BV

[nstoolman1]

Those are not R`s they are Rino's. Gutless traitors trying to keep the swamp filled. I don't believe 22 or 24 will be kind to them

[Shabibilicious]

From 10 in January to 35 now....the tides are shifting, clearing a guilty conscience will do that to a good person.

 

  

Trump hits 35 'wayward' Republicans for voting in favor of Jan. 6 commission

Allan Smith

Thu, May 20, 2021, 3:56 PM

 

 

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed his displeasure with the 35 House Republicans who bucked his call to vote against the bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

"See, 35 wayward Republicans — they just can’t help themselves," Trump said before lamenting Republicans such as Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. "Sometimes there are consequences to being ineffective and weak. The voters understand!"

Trump's statement came after the House on Wednesday voted 252-175 to create the independent commission. However, the bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where it needs at least 10 GOP votes and already faces opposition from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The 35 House Republicans included 10 who voted for Trump's impeachment earlier this year for his conduct surrounding the riot, which followed his nearby rally and monthslong efforts to delegitimize his election loss last fall. Additionally, nine other members who voted in favor of the commission reside in competitive districts, according to the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

The split shows ongoing divisions within the party on issues related to the former president and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The investigative commission was the product of a compromise last week between House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and ranking member Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y.

Katko was one of 10 House Republicans to vote in favor of impeaching Trump earlier this year.

The commission, as laid out in the bill, would include five Democratic-appointed members and another five chosen by Republicans, with current government officials or employees banned from appointment. The panel can subpoena individuals only if the Democratic-appointed chair and Republican-appointed vice chair agree or if there is a majority vote among the commission members.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., also opposes the commission, though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said each of his requests for such an investigation outlined in a February letter to her were included in the agreed-upon format. McCarthy, like Trump, has said he wants such a commission to also investigate left-wing violence unrelated to the riot.

Recently, some Republicans have sought to revise the narrative of the riot, which took place about 4 1/2 months ago. More than 440 people have been charged so far with participating in the attack, which left five dead.

Trump had pushed for Republicans to vote against the independent investigation — one that could examine his conduct surrounding the riot.

"Republicans must get much tougher and much smarter, and stop being used by the Radical Left," he said. "Hopefully, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are listening!"

After the measure was approved by the House, Katko said: "An independent, bipartisan commission will protect against politicization and enable a review that focuses solely on the facts and circumstances surrounding the security breach at the Capitol as well as other instances of relevant violence."

Speaking with Fox News on Thursday morning, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, said she voted in favor of the commission because on the day of the riot, she "visited with Capitol Police officers in the rotunda who had been assaulted, who had been pepper-sprayed, who were exhausted."

"And I think we owe it to them, since a lot of blame has been placed on them for security breaches, to find out what happened," she said. "There's also rumors of hierarchy within the House making that decision, and so I think we need to find out those things. It is bipartisan. There is equal representation, both sides. No member can be subpoenaed. And we can also look at other sources of riots that turn into violence."

"So I think, for those reasons we owe it to the Capitol Police, we owe it to members of Congress and we owe it to the public to understand what happened on Jan. 6 and then how to prevent it from happening in the future," she added.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-hits-35-wayward-republicans-182900503.html

 

GO RV, then BV

[nstoolman1]

If it is going to happen then fine. The Dems will find out the FBI knew about this and did nothing.

The Dem leaders refused the National Guard help offered by POTUS.

The Sgts at Arm of both House and Senate, on orders from Pelosi and McConnell, refused help from NG and DC police.

Capitol police helped protesters in to the capitol.

Lone capitol police officer shot an unarmed woman who was not a threat to life or limb.(Still don't know the name of shooter).

The alleged "armed insurrection) produced "0" firearms.

The cop who died did not die from any trauma caused by the protesters.

As usual the Dems will end up with mud on their face and wonder why. 

[md11fr8dawg]

Hey Shabs, I thought the Rats had investigated the insurrection and found out it was Trump's fault and then impeached him for a second round of the ass clown Rat circus show!!. What's left to investigate? Zero, just tryong to keep the  front page and distract from the incompetnece of Joke and the Ho!!

[patrickgold]

33 minutes ago, nstoolman1 said:

If it is going to happen then fine. The Dems will find out the FBI knew about this and did nothing.

The Dem leaders refused the National Guard help offered by POTUS.

The Sgts at Arm of both House and Senate, on orders from Pelosi and McConnell, refused help from NG and DC police.

Capitol police helped protesters in to the capitol.

Lone capitol police officer shot an unarmed woman who was not a threat to life or limb.(Still don't know the name of shooter).

The alleged "armed insurrection) produced "0" firearms.

The cop who died did not die from any trauma caused by the protesters.

As usual the Dems will end up with mud on their face and wonder why. 

Perfectly truthfully stated.

Liberals are to busy hating on one man!!! that their brain cells are on overdrive and have no clue this will circle back and flush them down the toilet drain.  Bunch of ignorant traitors on the Rino's part, liberals can have them.