In a meeting earlier this month to discuss the task force’s recommendations, McCarthy attacked Honoré in front of his team, scolding them for meeting via Zoom when Pelosi had a personal meeting and accusing the task force of working to meet the Pelosi’s wishes. McCarthy also read aloud some of Honoré’s previous tweets, which criticized Republicans. Honoré said he wrote the tweets before he knew he would be assigned the key security assignment, according to sources familiar with the matter.
“He called him in front of everyone,” said a House Republican, who asked not to be named to discuss the private exchange between McCarthy and Blodgett.
Democrats say their Republican House colleagues have no reason to complain after most of them voted to overturn the election results of two states – even after protesters stormed the Capitol to prevent Congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
After an initial flurry of hearings on the attack, the next steps for Congressional investigations into the January 6 flaws appear to be more obscure. Several House committees are conducting a joint investigation into the attack, which is still ongoing and appears to be broad in scope. A congressional adviser said that more briefings on the attack and domestic terrorism are underway and committees continue to receive documents.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee’s investigation appears to be the most advanced in either chamber, as advisers say the panel intends to move forward with a months-long look focused on the National Guard’s delayed response and the intelligence-sharing disruptions that led to the insurrection.
‘I wouldn’t be interested’
Pelosi this week reiterated his desire for an external commission to examine the January 6 attack, saying that the commission must “find out the truth of how the January 6 attack happened” and that it should be bipartisan.
“It is essential that we proceed in a bipartisan way to have a respected result”, wrote Pelosi.
When Pelosi initially revealed his plans for a commission last month, Democrats were optimistic that it would be adopted quickly. Majority leader in the House, Steny Hoyer, said he expects the House to vote on the commission this month, a scenario that seems almost impossible now with the discussions stalled.
But there are still lingering disputes over the commission’s party composition and what it should investigate – including the role Trump played – that threatens to prevent any kind of bipartisan agreement.
On Tuesday, McCarthy told reporters that House leaders are paralyzed in negotiations on how to formulate the independent commission.
“Based on what she offered and what she said before, I wouldn’t be interested,” said McCarthy.
Representative Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the House Management Committee, said Pelosi’s proposal suggested that she “did not take it seriously”.
“And if she were, she would be negotiating whether or not she should have a supporter inclined to that, or one that even the president and vice president of the 9/11 Commission said, this commission should be very bipartisan like that,” he said. Davis CNN. “You can’t call what she proposed a 9/11 style commission. It’s not even close.”
But Democrats say it is Republicans who are joking about the issue to avoid a full account of the role that Trump – and some of his members – played in spreading lies about the election results.
Various obstacles with commission
The problems with the creation of the commission are twofold: the party composition of the commission members and what it should investigate.
The draft of Pelosi’s proposal would include seven Democratic nominees for four members of the Republican Party, with House and Senate leaders each selecting two members and the White House nominating two and the president. McCarthy reiterated on Tuesday that he would not settle for anything less than a uniform division.
But the biggest obstacle is the scope of what the commission would investigate and whether to examine Trump’s role before the attack, as well as the rise of domestic extremism among groups that participated in the Capitol insurrection in January 6
Pelosi told CNN on Wednesday that the dispute over members of the commission was “accidental”, suggesting that it is open to a fairer balance between the two parties.
“The problem is the scope – are we going to seek the truth?” she said.
Republicans objected, arguing that the commission should also investigate the violence and unrest that occurred last year around protests against police brutality.
At his news conference on Thursday, McCarthy again criticized Honoré and said the commission should have equal members and not start with any conclusions drawn.
“If you start with the premise that you want only one side, you understand what the outcome will be,” said McCarthy.
Last month, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell criticized Pelosi’s proposed commission bill, accusing her of mounting a “handpicked” investigation that would investigate domestic extremism after January 6, but not violence in around police brutality protests.
“We could do something narrow that looks at the Capitol or potentially do something broader to look at the full scope of political violence here in our country,” said McConnell. “We cannot land on some artificial politicized intermediate point.”
McConnell’s opposition is significant, because Senate Republicans could have veto power over legislation to create the commission if they obstructed it.
Democratic MP Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, who co-presented legislation on what a commission to investigate on January 6 would look like, told CNN on Wednesday that she spoke with Pelosi about the need for the commission to be bipartisan.
“I have advocated, with regard to these negotiations, that they be bipartisan,” said Sherrill. “Because I think it is extremely important, if we are doing this, that the American people have faith in the results of this and I think that the only way that this can be seen as a trustworthy enterprise by a large part of the population is if it is a fully bipartisan commission . ”
Still, a long delay before the creation of a commission to examine 6 January would not be out of the precedent with the 9/11 Commission. Although Democrats urged the rapid creation of an independent commission to work alongside the various ongoing Congressional investigations, the 9/11 Commission was approved more than a year after the 9/11 attacks.
There was resistance within the George W. Bush White House and in Congress to create the commission, which was finally sanctioned in November 2002 amid pressure from the victims’ families for an independent and complete account of the terrorist attacks.
Bipartisan rage against extended Capitol security
There is an area where a bipartisan agreement has emerged: the security situation on Capitol needs to change.
Lawmakers from both parties expressed frustration with the continued security situation at the Capitol, issuing bipartisan statements criticizing an extension of the deployment of the National Guard and the barbed wire fence that surrounded the Capitol complex, when there was no clear threat to the Capitol. .
Lawmakers say the Capitol Police’s lack of information on the reason behind its decision to maintain the fence and extend the deployment of the Guard has heightened frustration over the response to the January 6 attacks.
Last week, Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, the top Republican on the House’s Armed Services Committee, met with Honoré, the Capitol Police and security officials. An adviser to the committee said at the meeting: “No one could or would provide clear information that would require the extension of the National Guard.”
Later that week, Rogers and House Armed Services President Adam Smith, a Washington Democrat, issued a joint statement calling for the withdrawal of National Guard troops, the first bipartisan request for a change in the planned extension.
This week, the acting House Sergeant of Arms announced a change, telling lawmakers that some fences would begin to fall and the National Guard’s presence would be reduced in the coming weeks.
CNN’s Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.