Robert Wise recently gave a good summary in the Northside Sun of the congressional committee findings into the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. The problem is that he didn't mention the committee was totally one-sided and extremely biased. Let me explain.
Then House speaker Nancy Pelosi was in charge of creating the committee. It comprised seven Democrats and two Republicans. Pelosi rejected the two Republicans who were proposed by their party--Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Rep. Jim Banks (Indiana). Her decision, conniving Nancy said, was about "not wasting time" if these members were chosen. Instead, she allowed Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois) to be the two Republican representatives. These two were themselves extremely biased against Trump. Cheney stated: "I will do whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office." Further she said: "I believe that Donald Trump continues to pose a very grave threat and risk to our republic." She had a 13% favorability rating amongst Republicans. She voted for the impeachment of the former president. Regarding Kinzinger, NPR says that he was an "outspoken critic of Trump." So the two Republicans chosen by Pelosi on the January 6 commission were essentially in lock step with the Democrats.
On the Democratic side, the seven members included Adam Schiff (California) who was intimately involved with the first impeachment trial of Trump. You remember the bogus Mueller investigation which relied on the false Steele dossier which was paid for by the Democratic Party. Adam Schiff said that he had proof that Trump was implicated in collusion with Russia in the previous election of 2016. He held secret hearings behind closed doors to initially conduct his hearings. Eventually it turned out that he didn't have that evidence, and he was himself later censured by the House of Representatives. Zoe Lofgren (California) was another member who served as impeachment manager for Trump's first impeachment trial. Another Democratic member was Jamie Raskin (Maryland) who was the lead manager for Trump's second impeachment trial. So, from the outset the deck was stacked against Trump in the committee's findings. All of the committee members--both Democrats and also Republicans-- had extreme biases against the former president.
Undoubtedly many bad things happened in the January 6 riot. An unbiased committee could discover who was the instigator (or instigators), who fanned the flames, and whether or not measures could and should have been taken to squash the insurrection before it spread. The role of the Capitol Police could be investigated. Some on the Right have suggested that Pelosi could have ordered them to intervene. This is not accurate because the "Capitol Police is overseen by the CP Board and has Congressional oversight by...the House of Representatives and the US Senate." It is probable that bureaucratic red tape slowed their response. Phone records show that the Capitol Police requested military (National Guard) backup six times in the first hour after the attack started. These calls were not successful. Obviously, there were many security failures.
Before we swallow hook, line, and sinker the biased Congressional report, we should take all these factors into account.
Peter Gilderson, Madison.
