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“The fact that we are now even more polarized, toxic and partisan than we were when we created the 9/11 commission is true,” said Tim Roemer, who was one of the five Democratic panel members. .
The idea that “we can make people work together, accomplish the goals and make recommendations to heal the country and strengthen the country is even more important in many ways,” Roemer added, “given the depth of the division and toxic toxicity that exists today. “
Roemer is one of many 9/11 Commission veterans in contact with the speaker as she adapts the setting for last month’s insurgency. Former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, a Republican appointed by George W. Bush to chair the commission, along with co-chair Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman, are also advising her.
Pelosi has described the upcoming proposal as a way to “get to the truth” about what happened on January 6, and she is speaking with her senior Democratic colleagues about the proposal before soliciting input from the GOP, according to several Democratic assistants. As she led Democrats to a lightning-quick second impeachment of Trump last month, calling for a vote a week after the insurgency, Pelosi insisted the proposed commission “has nothing to do with President Trump “.
“It’s a matter of security. How did it happen? Where do we go from here?” she told reporters on Friday. Among the issues the commission would examine, Pelosi added, are “white supremacy”, anti-Semitism and other factors identified as being at the root of domestic extremism of the type observed in the past. of the insurgency.
The commission’s final legislation is expected to closely mirror the structure of the 9/11 Commission – a 10-member bipartisan panel with wide latitude and independence to continue its investigation. But even though Democrats insist they want the legislation to have strong bipartisan support, several Republicans have complained in private that they haven’t even been included in the drafting process.
Some GOP members have already endorsed the idea of a 9/11-type commission to independently investigate the violent riot that broke out when Congress met to certify President Joe Biden’s victory in November. Representative Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) Proposed his own legislation on the subject alongside Representatives John Katko (DN.Y.) and James Comer (D-Ky.). A spokesperson for Davis said he has yet to see what Pelosi plans to introduce.
Democrats say it’s because they want to come to a final deal between themselves before presenting the proposal to Republican leaders. Pelosi is still working with his committee chairs and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to work out the final details.
Schumer “100%” backs an independent commission to investigate the events surrounding the January 6 insurgency “and hopes it will be approved by both houses with overwhelming bipartisan support,” spokesman Justin Goodman confirmed in a statement. press release Tuesday.
Members of the 9/11 Commission urged Democrats to carefully define the scope of their proposed January 6 panel. Legislation establishing its mission, they said, should exclude superfluous questions but focus on the fullest possible picture of who and what fueled the insurgency, including funding for its participants, and who botched it. security response.
“During [the 9/11] “We have repeatedly asked staff to tell us what the mandate is,” Hamilton said. “The terms of reference govern the process and they have to be developed with great care.
The commission must also have subpoena power and adequate resources, they say. Kean also told POLITICO that the 9/11 Commission has become something of a clearinghouse for debunking conspiracy theories about the event – suggesting that any 1/6 commission could serve a similar purpose.
“This is a time when rumors are spreading, when lies abound,” he said. “It is difficult for people to understand what is true and what is not.”
But the most important decision of all cannot be written into law: the appointment of commissioners, whose selection is likely to be split between the White House and the leadership of Congress. White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday indicated her support for the creation of a commission and vowed that the Biden administration would help the effort if passed.
The appointees and staff of any insurgency commission must have credibility on both sides of the aisle, 9/11 Commission members said, warning that anything less could doom the commission to l ‘failure. The appointees to the 9/11 panel, chosen by then President Bush, as well as Republican and Democratic House and Senate leaders, then hired staff to do his daily work.
“Anyone who had been active in recent political campaigns,” was excluded, Kean said of the staffing process. “I think we got 10 recommendations from lawyers, and by tracking them down, they were all very partisan. So we chose the eleventh.
The Commissioners faced skeptics back then, and they quickly remembered the fairly intense party spirit around that time as well, despite optimistic memories of an earlier era. The contested Bush-Gore election of 2000 was still fresh, 9/11 conspiracy theories had proliferated, and partisan mistrust – perhaps a stranger version of it – was on the rise on Capitol Hill.
“Washington’s gossip class condemned the 9/11 Commission to certain failure, predicting we would end up in a partisan food battle,” said lawyer Richard Ben-Veniste, another Democrat on the 9/11 commission . “The reality was that… the selected people were able to put aside their partisan impulses for the greater good.”
This is one of the reasons the former commissioners have said it is important for any new effort to include voices outside Washington who have backgrounds that lend themselves to cooperation – whether they are former governors, attorneys general or mayors – as well as former lawmakers.
Kean, who spent his youth in and out of the Capitol as the son and grandson of members of Congress, said it was still impossible to compare the bloodshed and shock of 9/11 with January 6 . But, he added, it was “overwhelming”. In a different way of seeing the symbol of American democracy sullied by violent riots.
“You walk into this building with admiration and respect,” Kean said of the Capitol. “It was a psychological shock for the country.”
Former members of the 9/11 Commission also recalled that the outside activism of the families of 9/11 victims was an important force, both in shaping the commission itself and in ensuring that it remained on the ground. right way. Roemer said they helped bolster legislation creating the commission – a proposal by him and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) At the time – through Congress, despite initial concerns from the Bush administration on what an investigation might reveal.
A similar external push to create an insurgency commission from ideologically diverse groups will be crucial in creating “moral persuasion” this time around, Roemer said.
Trump’s presence is just one of many challenges that could undermine any efforts to generate a bipartisan deal on a commission. Another is the lingering mistrust among lawmakers themselves: Democrats accused some of their GOP colleagues of conducting suspicious tours across Capitol Hill on January 5, raising the specter of domestic help for rioters. Pelosi lifted magnetometers in response to fears that some members were entering the chamber floor armed.
Republicans, meanwhile, began to suggest that Pelosi herself had questions to answer about decisions regarding Capitol Hill security on the eve of the riots. Davis and Comer, joined by Reps Devin Nunes from California and Jim Jordan from Ohio, said they wanted Pelosi to preserve his own office records on the matter.
But everything is superimposed, it is the uncertain political future of Trump. The former president welcomed the acquittal of his impeachment trial – even though the 57 senators voting to convict him marked the most bipartisan impeachment trial in U.S. history – and pledged to organize a political return. And Trump has been determined to block investigations into his conduct.
Trump aides did not respond to a request for comment on the panel.
Heather Caygle, Marianne Levine and Meridith McGraw contributed to this report.
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