By Aaron Miller-
Highly ranked Senate Republicans are making a joint effort to quash the creation of a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Capitol attack, deeply endangering the bill’s passage amid fears about what a high-profile inquiry into the events of 6 January might uncover.
The Republican Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, has strongly opposed the commission bill in its current form and several Republicans who have previously expressed support for it said they could no longer support it.
McConnell and top Senate Republicans are concerned that supporting an inquiry likely to find Donald Trump guilty for inciting the Capitol attack could be detrimental to the interests of Republicans ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
McCarthy called Trump as rioters breached the Capitol building and begged him to call them off, only for the former president to express support for the rioters, saying they appeared to care more about overturning the election results than Republicans in Congress.
Five people were killed as the mob looted the Capitol and hunted for politicians, including Vice-President Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi.
McCarthy is believed to prefer not to have to testify, voluntarily or under subpoena.
“My humble opinion is that there’s some information that [McCarthy] would deem troubling for the Republican party if it got out. And I think he will do everything possible to prevent that,” said the House Democrat Bennie Thompson.
The bill to create a 9/11-style commission passed the House on Wednesday with bipartisan support after 35 Republicans voted for it.
The bill still needs the endorsement of at least 10 Senate Republicans before it can be brought to the floor for debate. Those oppose to the bill are fighting desperately to see it die a natural death.
Those who stand to loose by the passing of this bill are pulling every trick in the book to influence other senators to go against the bill. The use of political muscles when it comes to swaying opinion is frequently used by politically powerful individuals who have the means to at least try and push things in the direction they prefer.
It sometimes means making profitable promises to other senators in terms of business or politics- sometimes , a mixture of the two. The consequences of investigations are always considered in advance by those voting for the passing of bills. Those considerations can come from themselves or from their fellow senators who consider the gains and loses and explore how to overcome potentially costly obstacles.
Rumours that Donald Trump plans to contest the 2024 elections will have huge implications today for the behaviour of politicians in the Republican party. Trump’s power and influence in the party has not been subjected to an overnight disappearance, but remains very much alive. Republican party members with future political ambitions are not so defiant as to ignore the passionate advice or influence of those higher up the ladder of the party, or make their own calculations what the implications of an investigation can have on their own future political ambitions.
The capitol riot is an event most Republicans want to leave in the past without surfacing in a way that could affect their future. They have already tried every defensive tactic from stating that Trump was already voted out of office at the time of the riot, claims that the former president did not instruct the rioters to attack the building and cause fear and panic in the way they did,
The five people who killed can just be one of the unfortunate statistics arising from the misharp of life, it can be assumed many Republicans have reasoned.