In a letter to her colleagues Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised the formation of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the security failures surrounding it.
In the interest of safeguarding the nation's security, Pelosi said a 9/11-type commission must be established to “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol complex” as well as “the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.” Establishing such a commission will likely require legislation in the vein of how the 9/11 Commission was formed. Pelosi also said a supplemental appropriations bill would be necessary to fund increased security measures for the Capitol and congressional members in the near term.
“It is clear from his findings and from the impeachment trial that we must get to the truth of how this happened,” Pelosi wrote.
Pelosi isn't the only congressional lawmaker who wants to know what the heck happened on Jan. 6 to make the Capitol breach possible. Even the likes of Trump sycophant Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Fox News Sunday, "We need a 9/11 Commission to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again." Of course, Graham could turn on a dime if Donald Trump is somehow implicated in the security failures—which he surely will be. The only question concerning Trump's (non)involvement in the flagging law enforcement presence is to what extent Trump helped hobble the response.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who ultimately voted to convict Trump of the impeachment charges, also expressed genuine interest in getting to the bottom of the breach and security failures.
“Why was there not more law enforcement, National Guard already mobilized, what was known, who knew it, and when they knew it, all that, because that builds the basis so this never happens again in the future,” Cassidy said Sunday on ABC News’ This Week.
Naturally, House Republicans have already established themselves as a part of the problem. The latest conspiracy theory of the tinfoil hat caucus appears to be that Pelosi herself kneecapped the Jan. 6 response. They ask a series of probing questions in their latest letter to Pelosi and then complain that they haven't been adequately consulted on the latest security measures being taken at the Capitol, including the installation of magnetometers at entrances to the House chamber.
Anyway, if the tinfoil hat caucus is really on to something, then Pelosi's independent commission will ultimately be an investigation of ... herself. Genius.