House to vote on bill to create Jan. 6 Capitol riot commission
By Melissa Macaya, Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes and Veronica Rocha, CNN
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McConnell announces opposition to Jan. 6 commission
From CNN's Elise Hammond, Morgan Rimmer and Ali Zaslav
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced in floor remarks Wednesday that he is opposed to the Jan. 6 commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol.
"After careful consideration, I've made the decision to oppose the House Democrats slanted and unbalanced proposal for another commission to study the events of January 6th. As everybody surely knows, I repeatedly made my views about the events of January 6th very clear. I spoke clearly and left no doubt about my conclusions," McConnell said.
McConnell's comments come as the House is set to vote today on legislation to create the commission, which House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also came out strongly against.
McConnell said on the Senate floor there already is, and has been, investigations into the Capitol riot by the federal government and it is not clear what new information would come out of another probe.
"The facts have come out and they will continue to come out," he said.
McConnell also criticized Democrats' handling of the proposal, saying the effort has been done in a partisan way.
“What is clear, is that House Democrats have handled this proposal in partisan bad faith,” he continued, “From initially offering a laughingly partisan starting point, to continuing to insist on various other features under the hood that are designed to centralize control over the Commission’s process, and it’s conclusion in Democratic hands.”
"I've been an outspoken critic of all the episodes of the political violence," he said, adding that he supports justice for any American who has broken the law.
This commission will need 60 votes in the Senate to pass, and McConnell’s opposition could kill the bill in the higher chamber.
Right before McConnell announced he won't back the commission, Schumer, in his floor remarks, pointed to "sad" and "unfortunate" reports that the Senate Republican leader “might be following his House colleagues down the rabbit hole and will oppose the commission” and said, “I hope that isn't true."
He added: “But the American people will see for themselves whether our Republican friends stand on the side of truth or on the side of Donald Trump."
The bill House lawmakers will vote on today would create a 10-person commission, with each party getting an equal number of appointments and subpoena power.
The legislation tasks the panel with examining "the facts and circumstances of the January 6th attack on the Capitol as well as the influencing factors that may have provoked the attack on our democracy."
Watch the moment:
CNN's Annie Grayer contributed reporting to this post.
Schumer rails against House GOP for "beyond crazy" efforts to "sabotage" the bipartisan Jan. 6 commission
From CNN's Ali Zaslav
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted House GOP leadership for swooping in at eleventh hour to try and “kill a bipartisan investigation” into the violent attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, arguing their efforts are “beyond crazy, to be so far under the thumb of Donald J. Trump.”
This comes as the House is set to vote today on the bill, which House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy came out strongly against.
Schumer repeated his promise to bring the legislation creating a bipartisan commission to look into January 6 to a vote on the Senate floor, but did not provide a timeline.
“Here in the Senate we will have a vote on the January 6 commission,” he said in Senate floor remarks. “The only way to stop these lies is to respond with the truth… an independent commission can be the antidote to the poisonous mistruths that continue to spread about January 6.”
He also argued that House GOP leadership trying to “sabotage” the commission after rank-and-file members struck a bipartisan agreement, as well as Rep. Liz Cheney being ousted from her leadership post, "is the shameful, shameful desire to protect Donald Trump and perpetuate the ‘Big Lie,’ even though it undermines our Democracy.”
McConnell told Republicans today he's opposed to the Jan. 6 commission as it’s currently drafted
From CNN's Manu Raju, Lauren Fox and Annie Grayer
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Republicans today he is opposed to the Jan. 6 commission as it’s currently drafted, according to a GOP source familiar with the remarks.
McConnell is headed to the Senate floor now to comment on the commission.
Some more background: The House is set to vote today on legislation to establish an independent commission that would investigate the violent insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan. 6 after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy came out in strong opposition to the bipartisan deal reached last week.
The bill lawmakers will vote on would create a 10-person commission, with each party getting an equal number of appointments and subpoena power, a key provision that McCarthy had said he wanted early on in negotiations.
The legislation tasks the panel with examining "the facts and circumstances of the January 6th attack on the Capitol as well as the influencing factors that may have provoked the attack on our democracy."
Republicans who voted to impeach Trump have expressed support for Jan. 6 commission
From CNN's Annie Grayer
Even though House Republican leadership is encouraging members to vote against the bill to create a commission on the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, some GOP lawmakers have come out strongly in support of the legislation or at least hinted they are leaning toward getting on board.
Over the weekend, Republican Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Fred Upton of Michigan joined Rep. John Katko of New York, who helped strike the deal on the commission, in coming out in strong support of the bipartisan deal.
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, another of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, outlined why he is supporting the bill.
"I think it's necessary just given what actually happened on that day and all the buildup. I think it's important that you know when the country and the Capitol is attacked that way that we take a full accounting and figure out how to prevent it going forward," Gonzalez said.
Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who's a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, in explaining why he will support the legislation, told CNN, "We should know why security was ill prepared and broken that day."
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an ally of Cheney who also voted to impeach Trump and has been increasingly critical of McCarthy, also came out in support of the January 6 commission ahead of the vote.
"We cannot let fear stop us from doing what is right. This week, I will proudly vote in support of the bipartisan January 6th commission and hope it is successful in shedding light on the truth," the Illinois Republican said in a statement.
But the Republican split in the House over the Jan. 6 commission legislation has led to further confusion in the Senate.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune predicted Monday that the Senate would pass a bill to establish a commission probing the Jan. 6 attack "in some form," but changed his tune on Tuesday when it became clear that House Republicans were not in sync on the legislation.
"It's a little more uncertain, I would say now," the South Dakota Republican said when asked about opposition from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as well as other members of the Senate GOP leadership team.
"When the leader over there comes out in opposition to it — my understanding was they had it kind of worked out, Republicans and Democrats were going to join together on this based on the changes that had been made," Thune said. "But if that's not the case, that certainly could affect the way people over here view it."
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