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“They wanted to kill her. They were chasing her, ”said Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.). “I don’t think that’s a political calculation at all. You talk about the biggest attack on our democracy in over 100 years.
Pelosi snuggled up with the seven Democrats on the panel and the only GOP member, Representative Liz Cheney, in her office Thursday afternoon. A fervent Catholic, she led the group in prayer before highlighting the “solemnity” of their work to come.
“The facts will get us where we go, nothing else,” Pelosi told the group, according to a source in the room.
Members of Pelosi’s inner circle insist she doesn’t view the selection panel as legacy-defining work during what could be her last round with the hammer. Instead, say confidants, Pelosi feels like she had no choice after GOP leaders rallied to block an independent investigation and a separate Senate-led investigation was dismissed as too narrow, with virtually no discussion of Trump’s role.
But the most popular board game in Washington is to guess when Pelosi could finally leave the Hill after a two-decade tenure at the top of the Democratic caucus. And no matter when Pelosi and his two longtime lieutenants – Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn – step down, their responses to the murderous insurgency and its aftermath will shape their legacy.
“The response of ‘we have not done any investigation’ is just not a legacy that anyone – forget the speaker, but everyone, including Republicans – should be prepared to live with,” said the representing Jim Himes (D-Conn.). “It’s a hackneyed word, but it’s existential.”
Democrats close to Pelosi claim that while the speaker no longer engages in the daily verbal struggle with Trump, she still sees him and his staunch band of insurgent supporters as a unique threat to American democracy.
And with Trump sidelined, Pelosi was able to shift her focus away from fighting her administration’s policies to shield Congress from what she sees as her dangerous policies, a clash with implications for the institution that will survive. long in his tenure.
“This is extremely serious,” Pelosi said Thursday, raising her voice and becoming unusually animated as she explained her determination to move forward with the selected panel despite Republican protests. “This is our Constitution. This is our country. This is an assault on the Capitol.
Long before the riot on Capitol Hill, Pelosi saw solemn duty to the institution as part of his leadership position. She has a long history of working on national security, including years as the principal Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and was central to the creation of the independent commission to study the terrorist attacks in the United States. September 11, 2001.
Then came January 6, when Pelosi and other party leaders were kicked out of the ground minutes before rioters broke into the House chamber. Back in his office, staff members curled up under tables as rioters angrily chanted Pelosi’s name outside a locked door.
“This is a serious moment,” said Representative Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Who served with Pelosi during September 11, the latest event seen as such a significant threat to the security of Congress. “She has to get to the bottom of this so that this never happens again. “
Pelosi stunned much of Washington this week by ridding the Jan.6 selection panel of a pair of loud Trump allies – Reps Jim Banks (R-Ind.) And Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) – enticing strong criticism from Republicans, who as the latest example of his overbreadth as a speaker.
The move left Trump’s chief antagonist in his own party, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), As the only GOP member in the investigation, although Pelosi hinted on Thursday that she might add more Republican representation.
Pelosi’s play this week infuriated McCarthy, the first House GOP frontman in her nearly 20 years in power with whom she has almost no relationship. Pelosi had friendly relations with former President John Boehner (R-Ohio) and was cordial with former President Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
But when McCarthy arrives, she barely cares to hide the disdain in his voice.
“I’m not talking about him,” Pelosi told reporters when asked about McCarthy on Thursday. “Let’s not waste each other’s time. “
The feeling seems to be mutual. When Pelosi called McCarthy to inform him of her decision to bar Jordan and Banks from serving on the panel, she was faced with “a wall of yelling,” according to a source familiar with the conversation.
A second source confirmed the call was strained, but said McCarthy and Pelosi had “raised their voices.”
For both sides, this week was a reminder that Congress is still embroiled in a painful calculation of Donald Trump’s grip on the GOP, as the former president’s influence has only grown on campus since. his electoral defeat. The resulting gap between the two parties and their leaders has only widened.
And it was yet another sign that Pelosi – who has already guided his party through two Trump impeachments – will not hesitate to wage a brutal fight with his political opponents, despite his party’s thinnest margins in decades. .
McCarthy and his GOP members generally view Pelosi’s decision to veto two of their members undermines the seriousness of the small panel. They argue that the speaker’s unprecedented move to remove Trump’s biggest supporters from the GOP list shows that the mandate of the inquiry is primarily to fight the former president.
“She was going to move forward no matter what,” said Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Who heads the GOP campaign arm. “I think it robs this partisan masquerade of any credibility.”
And the sight of a predominantly Democratic select committee has some of the most vulnerable members of Pelosi’s caucus whispering about the potential fallout ahead of a brutal midterm election.
But Democrats close to Pelosi dismissed those concerns, saying the 2022 election will be won or lost depending on the state of the economy and nothing else. These Democrats say it was McCarthy’s decision to dismiss the 9/11-style inquiry that doomed cooperation between the aisles from the start.
Several Democratic committees have already opened investigations into the January 6 riots, bringing in witnesses such as the Capitol Police watchdog and the director of the FBI. These investigations have already revealed glaring gaps in campus security, with big implications for Capitol Hill law enforcement, perimeter fence, and management going forward.
But Pelosi and many Democrats insist that a full investigation – a separate committee with its own resources – would uncover new details about exactly where the order broke and how Trump and his allies in the GOP fueled violence on Capitol Hill. Democrats on the panel are already considering witnesses such as McCarthy himself.
“I think she wants to show a clear contrast between a serious leader, a serious party that really wants to rule, and this lack of seriousness on the other side,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) Said.
Ally Mutnick contributed.
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