January 6 Investigations Stall

Plus: The debate over the filibuster ramps up.

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Good morning. The House and Senate are both officially out for two weeks of recess. Members will return in mid-April. (I hope Uphill readers are also planning to take some time off in the coming days. We all need it.)

Partisan Squabbles and Lack of Momentum Hinder January 6 Probes

When Senate Democrats decided not to seek witness testimony during former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, they said important unanswered questions surrounding the Capitol attack could be investigated later by congressional committees or an independent commission. 

Nearly three months after the January 6 mobbing of the building, and a month after the Senate voted to acquit Trump of inciting insurrection, the congressional effort to learn more about the circumstances leading up to and during that day has been lackluster at best. Senate committees have held a couple of hearings, but with mixed success. And in the House, negotiations for a bipartisan commission have come to a standstill.

In the first high-profile hearing last month, senators largely fell short of holding three former Capitol security officials accountable for their failure to protect the complex. Senators also didn’t fully drill down on discrepancies between their testimonies, and most members of the panel were too ready to accept the witnesses’ attempts to deflect blame onto the intelligence community.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Billy.Faires

    I hope this does not come across as damning with faint praise, but here goes.

    I doubt Uphill gets the readership numbers of some other writers and topics. Even in the thoughtful land of Dispatch subscribers, that which is curious, odd, or top of mind will still garner our attention and interest in ways that the ho hum interworkings of Capitol Hill rarely can. I'm the first to admit that I don't always read Uphill.

    HOWEVER, if I'm right about readership numbers -- and I do sincerely hope I'm wrong -- please, please don't allow readership numbers to negate the importance of this reporting. This is the kind of work that has been thrown in the trash heap of journalism on the local, state, and even national level, and it's rendered ever fewer of us even partially aware of the complexities (and incompetencies) on display in these chambers.

    Point being, Haley (Ms. Wilt? Mrs. Wilt?), you're doing exceptional and important work. Thank you, and keep it up!

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    Adam

    Maybe I'm naïve, but why can't Sasse and the handful of other sane Republicans work to make some of this legislation bipartisan? It's not as if we're talking Medicare for All or the Green New Deal - it's infrastructure and voting rights.

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      Pat Riot

      Republicans cannot possibly allow Democrats to have a legislative victory, that's why.

      And besides, after the stimulus passed, several GOP lawmakers told their constituents how awesome it was that they'd be getting relief etc. insinuating that they supported the bill--after they voted against it. This is akin to Republicans who swore, in their campaign materials, that they would protect Obamacare even though they often voted to kill ACA, sued it, etc.

      It's hard to keep track of the GOP in the post-truth era, but if you understand that the truth doesn't matter *at all* to elected Republicans, you can see they are better off voting against everything and just lying about anything that turns out to be popular.

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  3. Peter

    Like for real, it has been three months. What is Pelosi holding up on?? This is ridiculous. Let's get this commission going. Slower than the Panthers offense. Jeez.

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    Sad Trombone

    I don't understand why elite opinion of both the left and the moderate right dismiss any connection between the desensitization caused by a summer of left-wing violence and the reaction to the Capitol storming by stolid, bourgeois Trumpkins. Had it not been for a nightly diet of Fox News showing these pampered Antifa thugs rioting, burning and looting without consequence there is no way the violence on January 6th would have been excused or obfuscated.

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      Pat Riot

      Also video games. Don't forget video games. That's what caused the 1/6 terrorism, not Republican lawmakers from Trump on down telling millions of people the election was stolen and the courts are corrupt and there's nothing left except raw violence.

      No, it's video games...

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      Mudskipper

      There were consequences. In many cities, the police engaged fairly harsh crowd and riot control. Over 14,000 people were arrested. And most of the people engaging in looting and burning weren't Antifa. They were just the run-of-the-mill gang members and criminal types who were taking advantage of the chaos.

      As far as the nightly diet of Fox News, it wasn't in the interest of Fox News to show the rioters being dealt with since Fox gets eyeballs by selling outrage to conservatives.

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    Portland Isaiah

    Great article. Very informative. I hope Mrs. Byrd Wilt gets some time to rest as well.

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    DougAz

    I'm just going to say what I feel. What my wife feels.

    We believe the Trump Capitol Coup was a far worse day for America than 9/11.

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    rlritt

    This is the single most depressing article I've ever read. That they are going to let Jabba the Hutt and the Goon Squad get away with trying to take over our 245 year old republic makes me so angry I could spit nails.

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  8. P Satter

    Thank you for linking to the Alaskan of the Week.

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  9. Pedro Goulart

    Sen. Sasse's hypothetical about policy "pinball" is just false, and it's just odd that people would claim this like there were no data on legislatures without supermajority requirements, especially in strong bicameral systems. I think the Economist recently claimed the US Senate was unique in this in the world, but I didn't check that.

    To put it in a easy way to understand: if the Senate abolishes the non-talking filibuster outright, a party that held both chambers and the presidency would still be much, much, much, much weaker than UK Conservatives in the Thatcher era (or any party in the majority in the modern era, for that matter). Even after some reforms in the British political system in the '90s, the British Prime Minister is would still be more powerful in its policymaking powers. No pinball!

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    Victor Clairmont

    Informative as always.

    Please keep up the pace keeping us informed about what is going on!

    The filibuster debate was one of those things many said the democrats were not going to push to absolve last year.

    Well, that was a wrong argument.....

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