When Democrats controlled the House, Nancy Pelosi's January 6th Committee convened public hearings and released a report detailing Trump's alleged efforts to circumvent the 2020 election results.
Now, the Republicans want to expose that as a Stalinist kangaroo court staked against Donald Trump. They have many unanswered questions, including why the Capitol Police were so ill-prepared despite intelligence assessments that showed what rioters were planning.
"They want to find out who's behind this, who caused this, who orchestrated this debacle," notes radio host Sandy Rios, a former Fox News contributor who has served in various leadership roles in Washington, D.C. "It wasn't orchestrated by Proud Boys or any of those groups that have been accused of doing that. We think it was Nancy Pelosi and a cabal of leftists."
Democrats, however, claim the new eight-member panel is the Republicans' latest effort to "rewrite history."
The only Republican members on Pelosi's committee were Never Trumpers Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois), who seemed more intent on damaging Trump's reputation and reelection prospects than on finding out the truth. Hostile Democrats are included this time.
"Hakeem Jeffries (New York) is going to be an honorary member, and so is Jamie Raskin (Maryland), because he was part of the last committee," Rios notes.
She says those additions could be "a disaster," but speaking as someone who has spent a great deal of time trying to get to the bottom of the events on and around Jan. 6, she hopes this new subcommittee can accomplish that.
"I have real mixed feelings about the committee and its outcome," she admits. "For right now, I'm going to hope for the best."
The new panel will fall under the purview of the House Judiciary Committee and be chaired by Georgia Republican Barry Loudermilk.
This will be the third time the House of Representatives conducts a probe into the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.
