WASHINGTON - On the last Friday in May, a vote to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol fell six votes short. The vote came in the same U.S. Senate chamber that had been overrun by rioters just minutes after then-Vice President Mike Pence was rushed to safety.
The protesters sought to keep then-President Donald Trump in the presidency, overturning the election of Democrat Joe Biden.
With Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans adamantly opposed to another investigation of the attack, prospects for a thorough and bipartisan investigation now appear dim.
But for many, questions linger four months after the deadly incident that astounded the nation and much of the world.
“As an American this bothers me,” said Colin P. Clarke, director of policy and research at the global intelligence firm , headquartered in New York City.
Clarke says he understands that partisan divides have deepened since the January insurrection but maintains that the Senate’s failure to approve a congressional investigative commission “looks like people have things to hide.”
After initially blaming Trump for helping to instigate the riot, McConnell urged fellow Republicans to vote against the bipartisan commission, noting that other probes are well under way.
“There is no new fact about that day that we need the Democrats’ extraneous ‘commission’ to uncover. … I’ll continue to support the real, serious work of our criminal justice system and our own Senate committees,” ahead of the procedural vote.
On May 18, 10 days before the Senate vote that stopped the bill, Trump advising Senate and House Republicans to vote down the proposed congressional commission, calling it a “Democrat trap” with “just more partisan unfairness.” He also implored Republicans to “get much tougher and much smarter, and stop being used by the Radical Left.”
Various Senate and House committees — Homeland Security, Oversight, Judiciary — are conducting hearings. But the scope of committee probes is restricted to their specific jurisdictions and purviews, making a comprehensive congressional review all but impossible absent a commission with a broad mandate and subpoena power.
Similarly, the U.S. Justice Department is investigating the Capitol riot and the FBI has made exhaustive efforts to identify, track down and bring charges against perpetrators and participants. Analysts note, however, that the root causes of what took place Jan. 6 and critical decisions made by key players in Washington at the time extend beyond law-and-order matters.
President Biden could sign an executive order to appoint a presidential commission to investigate the events of Jan. 6, an approach opposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That option has drawbacks, too, according to Seamus Hughes, a former staffer at the National Counterterrorism Center. Hughes noted the FBI would refuse to share sensitive information if commission members lacked security clearances, adding that an FBI classification review “is a monthlong slog.”
Hughes is deputy director of George Washington University’s , which is tracking 455 people arrested in relation to the Capitol riot and has compiled thousands of pages of legal documents and demographics about the individuals. Of particular interest to him are communications between U.S. law enforcement entities ahead of Jan. 6.
Hughes points to an FBI memo originating in Norfolk, Virginia, the day before the insurrection that warned of online chatter about violence and a “war” at the U.S. Capitol. He wants to know if any other memos existed that foretold of violence on Jan. 6.
“Everything was blinking red [warning signs abounded] leading up to January 6,” Hughes told VOA, adding that “a whole host of intelligence products” should have warned law enforcement that serious trouble was brewing. Hughes also notes that the FBI warned certain extremist group leaders against gathering in Washington on Jan. 6.
“If it raised to that level where FBI agents knock on the door of some random person in Wisconsin and tell them not to travel January 6,” Hughes said, “that tells me there were concerns within the bureau.”
At noon on Jan. 6, Trump told an outdoor rally of ardent supporters that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from him, adding: “if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." The crowd subsequently flocked to the Capitol while Trump returned to the White House where he reportedly saw alerts on television about the breach.