When the House voted Wednesday to pass a bill to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, 175 Republicans voted against it.
Why?
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) caved on nearly all of the Republican Party’s demands in crafting the legislation. The bill itself is bipartisan (35 Republicans supported it). The commission would be bipartisan, with members equally divided along party lines. Its members would have shared subpoena power. Its final report would be due by the end of the year instead of in 2022, when Republicans eyeing their reelection campaigns definitely don’t want to be talking about that time President Donald Trump incited an attack on the U.S. Capitol that left five people dead, hundreds of police officers injured and countless others traumatized, all based on Republican-backed claims that the election was being stolen
Some Republicans argued that an independent commission would duplicate ongoing congressional and criminal investigations. But the same was true of the 9/11 commission, which is the model for the proposed Jan. 6 commission.
Some said Democrats just want to use the commission to badger Trump. But, again, it would be an independent, bipartisan panel with outside members, with the singular goal of examining what led to one of the darkest days in American history.
Some said there was no insurrection at all and that Jan. 6 was just a regular day of tourism. That is delusional.
The most obvious reason why so many Republicans voted against creating an independent Jan. 6 commission is because they know they are complicit in what happened that day.
It’s one thing to have Democrats point out all the times Republicans echoed Trump’s lie that the election was stolen from him ― and how that lie led to so much damage and violence. It’s another thing if a respected, bipartisan panel of outside investigators makes those same connections and releases them for the public to see.
Republicans know that.
Republicans also know they are well-positioned to win control of the House in 2022, and an independent probe into what led to the insurrection could really mess it up for them.
There’s plenty of evidence out there that Republicans helped spread Trump’s lie. They did it in press releases. They did it in political videos. They did it in public speeches in front of large crowds. They did it in tweets. They went on live television and did it. It was all happening in plain sight.
And on Jan. 6, one of the most egregious attacks on democracy took place right after the insurrection and requires no investigation. It was when dozens of House and Senate Republicans voted to overturn the election based on that lie ― just hours after a white supremacist mob of Trump supporters smashed their way into the Capitol with plans to kill Pelosi, Vice President Mike Pence and others to stop them from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s win. They did that because they believed the lie.
It should be no surprise, then, that nearly all of the same GOP lawmakers who voted to overturn the election also don’t want an independent panel to examine the Capitol riot. Of the 139 House Republicans who voted in January to overturn the election based on the lie, 131 of them voted Wednesday not to create a commission to investigate the insurrection that was fueled by that lie.
The most glaring names on the list are House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), House GOP Whip Steve Scalise (La.) and newly elected GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.). All three of them have peddled Trump’s lie. All three of them voted to overturn the election on Jan. 6. And all three of them tried to bury that reality on Wednesday.
For the sake of posterity, here are the names of all of the House Republicans who voted against setting up an independent panel to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection ― after also voting in January to overturn the election based on the same lie that fueled the insurrection in the first place.
Robert Aderholt (Ala.)
Rick Allen (Ga.)
Jodey Arrington (Texas)
Brian Babin (Texas)
Jim Baird (Ind.)
Jim Banks (Ind.)
Jack Bergman (Mich.)
Andy Biggs (Ariz.)
Dan Bishop (N.C.)
Lauren Boebert (Colo.)
Mike Bost (Ill.)
Mo Brooks (Ala.)
Ted Budd (N.C.)
Tim Burchett (Tenn.)
Michael Burgess (Texas)
Ken Calvert (Calif.)
Kat Cammack (Fla.)
Jerry Carl (Ala.)
Buddy Carter (Ga.)
John Carter (Texas)
Madison Cawthorn (N.C.)
Steve Chabot (Ohio)
Ben Cline (Va.)
Michael Cloud (Texas)
Andrew Clyde (Ga.)
Tom Cole (Okla.)
Rick Crawford (Ark.)
Warren Davidson (Ohio)
Scott DesJarlais (Tenn.)
Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.)
Byron Donalds (Fla.)
Jeff Duncan (S.C.)
Neal Dunn (Fla.)
Ron Estes (Kan.)
Pat Fallon (Texas)
Michelle Fischbach (Minn.)
Scott Fitzgerald (Wis.)
Chuck Fleischmann (Tenn.)
Virginia Foxx (N.C.)
Scott Franklin (Fla.)
Russ Fulcher (Idaho)
Matt Gaetz (Fla.)
Mike Garcia (Calif.)
Bob Gibbs (Ohio)
Louie Gohmert (Texas)
Bob Good (Va.)
Lance Gooden (Texas)
Paul Gosar (Ariz.)
Garret Graves (La.)
Sam Graves (Mo.)
Mark Green (Tenn.)
Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.)
Morgan Griffith (Va.)
Jim Hagedorn (Minn.)
Andy Harris (Md.)
Diana Harshbarger (Tenn.)
Vicky Hartzler (Mo.)
Kevin Hern (Okla.)
Yvette Herrell (N.M.)
Jody Hice (Ga.)
Clay Higgins (La.)
Richard Hudson (N.C.)
Darrell Issa (Calif.)
Ronny Jackson (Texas)
Bill Johnson (Ohio)
Mike Johnson (La.)
Jim Jordan (Ohio)
John Joyce (Pa.)
Fred Keller (Pa.)
Mike Kelly (Pa.)
Trent Kelly (Miss.)
David Kustoff (Tenn.)
Doug LaMalfa (Calif.)
Doug Lamborn (Colo.)
Jake LaTurner (Kan.)
Debbie Lesko (Ariz.)
Billy Long (Mo.)
Barry Loudermilk (Ga.)
Frank Lucas (Okla.)
Blaine Luetkemeyer (Mo.)
Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.)
Tracey Mann (Kan.)
Brian Mast (Fla.)
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.)
Lisa McClain (Mich.)
Daniel Meuser (Pa.)
Carol Miller (W.Va.)
Mary Miller (Ill.)
Alex Mooney (W.Va.)
Barry Moore (Ala.)
Markwayne Mullin (Okla.)
Greg Murphy (N.C.)
Troy Nehls (Texas)
Ralph Norman (S.C.)
Devin Nunes (Calif.)
Jay Obernolte (Calif.)
Burgess Owens (Utah)
Steven Palazzo (Miss.)
Gary Palmer (Ala.)
Greg Pence (Ind.)
Scott Perry (Pa.)
August Pfluger (Texas)
Bill Posey (Fla.)
Guy Reschenthaler (Pa.)
Harold Rogers (Ky.)
Mike Rogers (Ala.)
John Rose (Tenn.)
Matthew Rosendale (Mont.)
David Rouzer (N.C.)
John Rutherford (Fla.)
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (La.)
David Schweikert (Ariz.)
Pete Sessions (Texas)
Adrian Smith (Neb.)
Jason Smith (Mo.)
Lloyd Smucker (Pa.)
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.)
Gregory Steube (Fla.)
Chris Stewart (Utah)
Thomas Tiffany (Wis.)
Glenn Thompson (Pa.)
William Timmons (S.C.)
Jeff Van Drew (N.J.)
Beth Van Duyne (Texas)
Tim Walberg (Mich.)
Jackie Walorski (Ind.)
Randy Weber (Texas)
Roger Williams (Texas)
Joe Wilson (S.C.)
Robert Wittman (Va.)
Lee Zeldin (N.Y.)