WASHINGTON — In blocking the formation of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Republicans in Congress have all but closed off the possibility of a full and impartial accounting for one of the most serious assaults on American democracy in history, leaving unanswered critical questions with broad implications for politics, security and public trust.
Fearing political damage from any sustained scrutiny of the attack, Republicans united in large numbers against the inquiry, moving to shift an unwelcome spotlight away from former President Donald Trump, his election lies that fueled the attack, and the complicity of many GOP lawmakers in amplifying his false claims of widespread voter fraud.
The result is that key details about a shocking act of domestic extremism against the U.S. government are likely to remain shrouded in mystery, and anything new that may be revealed about the assault at the Capitol will most likely be viewed through a partisan lens, with a substantial proportion of the country rejecting the reality of what transpired.
The public may never know precisely what Trump and members of his administration did or said as a throng of his supporters stormed the Capitol while Congress met to formalize President Joe Biden's victory, threatening the lives of lawmakers and the vice president. The full story may never be revealed of why security officials were so unprepared for the breach of the building, supposedly one of the most secure in the nation, despite ample warnings of potential violence. The extent of the role of Republican lawmakers closely allied with Trump in planning the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally that spiraled into a brutal onslaught may remain unexplored.
Despite its divisions, the United States formed fact-finding commissions after the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The failure to do so in this case, said those involved in some of the inquiries, would further erode trust in the government and deprive the public of the kinds of lessons that could prevent another such attack.
"After many of the national tragedies we've experienced over the last 50 or more years, the response was to have a bipartisan investigation that would lay out the facts in a way that would be definitive," said Michael Chertoff, who served as homeland security secretary under President George W. Bush in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. "It builds trust. It shows the public at a time of crisis, we can all come together and put the good of the country ahead of partisan interests."
Chertoff and three other former homeland security secretaries who served presidents of both parties had lobbied Republicans to support the creation of a Jan. 6 commission, saying the nation needed a better understanding of "how the violent insurrection at the Capitol came together to ensure the peaceful transfer of power in our country is never so threatened again."
"We need to get a definitive explanation of what actually happened," Chertoff said in an interview after the vote.