“The fact that we are now even more polarized and toxic and biased than when we set up the 9/11 commission is true,” said Tim Roemer, who served as one of the five Democratic members of the panel.
The idea that ‘we can get people to work together, achieve the goals and make recommendations to heal the country and strengthen the country is in many ways even more important’, Roemer added, ‘given the depth of the division and the toxic toxicity that exists today. ”
Roemer is one of several veterans of the 9/11 commission who come into contact with the speaker as she adjusts the framework for last month’s uprising. Former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, a Republican appointed by George W. Bush as chairman of the commission, and co-chair Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman, also advise her.
Pelosi described the forthcoming proposal as a way to reach ‘the truth’ of what happened on January 6, and she is talking to fellow senior Democrats about the proposal before asking for GOP input, according to several Democratic collaborators. While sending Democrats to a lightning-fast second Trump indictment last month and voting a week after the uprising, Pelosi insisted the proposed commission “has nothing to do with President Trump.”
“It’s about safety. How did it happen? Where are we going from here?” she told reporters on Friday. Pelosi adds that white supremacy is an anti-Semitism and other factors identified as the driving force of domestic extremism of the kind seen during the uprising.
The final legislation of the commission is expected to accurately reflect the structure of the 9/11 commission – a two-party panel of ten members, which is given great breadth and independence to investigate. But while Democrats insist they want the legislation to have strong dual support, several Republicans have privately complained that they were not even included in the drafting process.
Some in the GOP have endorsed the idea of a 9/11-style commission to independently investigate the violent riot that erupted when Congress convened to confirm President Joe Biden’s victory in November. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) Proposed his own legislation on the subject along with representatives John Katko (DN.Y.) and James Comer (D-Ky.). A Davis spokesman said he had not yet seen what Pelosi was planning to import.
Democrats say it is because they want to reach a final agreement before taking the proposal to Republican leaders. Pelosi is still working with her committee chairmen and Chuck Schumer, leader of the Senate majority, to determine the final details.
Schumer “100 percent” supports an independent commission to investigate the events surrounding the January 6 uprising “and looks forward to it being approved by both chambers with overwhelming dual support,” spokesman Justin Goodman said in a statement Tuesday. confirm.
Members of the 9/11 commission urged Democrats to carefully outline the scope of their proposed January 6 panel. According to legislation, the legislation defining its mission should exclude extraordinary issues, but focus on the most comprehensive picture of who and what fueled the uprising, including the funding of the participants, and what thwarted the security response.
“During the course of [the 9/11] investigation, we repeatedly asked the staff to tell us what the mandate was, “Hamilton said. The mandate is the process and it needs to be worked out very carefully. ”
The commission must also have a subpoena and adequate resources, they say. Kean also told POLITICO that the 9/11 commission had become a clean-up center to ward off conspiracy theories about the event – suggesting that any 1/6 commission could achieve a similar goal.
“This is a time when rumors are spreading, where lies abound,” he said. “It’s hard for people to understand what’s true and what’s not true.”
But the most important decision of all cannot be written in the text of the law: the appointment of commissioners, the choice of which is likely to be divided among the White House and the congressional leadership. White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday indicated support for setting up a commission and promised that Biden’s government would help the effort if it succeeds.
Nominees and staff for any commission on the uprising must be credible on both sides of the aisle, 9/11 members of the commission said, warning that anything less dangerous to the commission failed. Nominees in the 9/11 panel, elected by then-President Bush as well as by the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, hired staff to do his day-to-day work.
“Anyone who has been active in recent political campaigns has been excluded,” Kean said of the staffing process. ‘I think we got ten recommendations for advice, and when they found it, they were all very biased. That’s why we chose the eleventh. ”
Commissioners faced skeptics at the time, and in those days they were also quick to recall a fair bias, despite rosy memories of an earlier era. The controversial Bush-Gore election of 2000 was still fresh, conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks increased and biased distrust – perhaps a brilliant version of it – increased on Capitol Hill.
“The Washington chat class has condemned the 9/11 Commission to a certain failure, and predicts that we would end up in a biased food fight,” said attorney Richard Ben-Veniste, another 9/11 Democrat. commission, said. “The reality was that … the individuals selected were able to set aside their biased impulses for a greater benefit.”
This is one of the reasons why former commissioners have said that it is important that new votes include votes from outside Washington that have records that allow them to cooperate – whether they are former governors, attorneys general or mayors – as well as former legislators.
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 to January 6th. In another way to see the symbol of American democracy polluted by the violent riots.
“You enter that building with awe and a sense of reverence,” Kean said of the Capitol. “It was a psychological shock for the country.”
Former 9/11 commission members also recalled that outside activism of the families of 9/11 victims was a key force in shaping the commission itself and ensuring that it remained on track. Roemer said they had helped Congress create the commission at the time – a proposal by him and the late Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) – despite the Bush administration’s initial concerns about what would be an investigation. may appear.
A similar pressure from outside to create a rebel commission of ideologically diverse groups is crucial to creating ‘moral suasion’ this time too, Roemer said.
Trump’s presence is just one of the many challenges that could hamper any attempt to reach a two-tier agreement over a commission. Another is persistent distrust among lawmakers: Democrats have accused some of their GOP colleagues of leading suspicious tours of the Capitol on Jan. 5, fueling the riots for the rioters. Pelosi raised magnetometers in response to concerns that some armed members were entering the House floor.
Republicans, meanwhile, have begun suggesting that Pelosi himself have questions to answer about decisions on Capitol security on the eve of the riots. Davis and Comer, along with representatives Devin Nunes of California and Jim Jordan of Ohio, said they want Pelosi to keep the documentation of her own office.
But to cover it all is Trump’s own uncertain political future. The former president created his acquittal on indictment – although the 57 senators convicted of it were the most double indictment in U.S. history – and vowed to bring about a political return. And Trump has dedicated himself to investigating his behavior.
Trump aides did not respond to a request for comment on the panel.
Heather Caygle, Marianne Levine and Meridith McGraw contributed to this report.