House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a commission similar to the one that investigated the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to investigate the January 6 Capitol rebellion, which left five dead. The 9/11 Commission took two years to complete and generated a 561-page report on the 2001 attacks, their origin and recommendations for the future.
The assistant speaker said a committee could take the conversation around the riot, which occurred after Trump gave an incendiary speech to supporters who later marched to the Capitol, outside the political realm and in the hands of fact-finding experts who would formulate guidelines for avoiding future attacks.
“This is much more than a former president,” said Clark, adding that he believed that American democracy was in danger. “It was a message to future presidents about what we consider to be conduct worthy of the office of President of the United States.”
Asked whether Democrats can turn to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution – which contains language that prohibits individuals who “have been involved in insurrections or rebellions” against “the United States from holding certain positions – to prevent Trump from taking office again, Clark said” we don’t we took any of our tools off the table “, but it was too early to know what processes would be used to pursue responsibility.
Whether the 14th Amendment could be used against Trump remains an open constitutional debate. The amendment, adopted in 1868 after the emancipation of American slaves, granted citizenship and equal protection to all those born or naturalized in the United States, although such rights would take a century or more to be fully realized. But the amendment also contains language – aimed at former Confederate officials at the time – preventing individuals who “engaged in insurrections or rebellions against” the United States specifically from serving as senators, members of the House or members of the Electoral College.
The amendment makes no specific mention of the presidential office, but it prohibits individuals who have engaged in the insurrection from holding “any position, civil or military, under the United States or under any state.”
As an assistant speaker, Clark said he worked with freshman lawmakers to overcome the insurrection and its aftermath, including helping them find therapists or set up security systems for their homes.
“Three days after starting their careers in Congress, their own lives were threatened,” she said, adding that the people of color in that cohort emphasized the racism issues that were linked to the insurrection.
Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Clark said, was instructed to remove her badge by identifying her as a representative while being evacuated from the Capitol. Rochester hesitated to remove him, fearing that, without this identification, she would not be seen by the police as a person in need of protection.
“These are the real issues that members of Congress are dealing with and prosecuting,” said Clark.