The impeachment of former President Donald Trump may be over, but a blame game over the Capitol riot at its center is just beginning.
As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) moves to establish a 9/11-style commission, House Republicans sent her a sharp letter suggesting that she is the one to blame for security failures, the Washington Examiner reported.
Lawmakers in both parties have called for a systematic review of the riot. Among those moves, the call for a 9/11-style commission has caused some alarm, given recent comparisons on the left between Trump supporters and al-Qaida.
In their letter, Reps. Rodney Davis (R-IL), Jim Jordan (R-OH) James Comer (R-KY), and Devin Nunes (R-CA) made clear that they do not disagree in principle with a sweeping review, but suggested that Pelosi is largely to blame for what went wrong.
Why were security requests denied?
The lawmakers pressed Pelosi to explain why a request to send in the National Guard before Jan. 6 from ex-Capitol police chief Steven Sund was denied, insinuating that her former House Sergeant-At-Arms, who she later sacked alongside Sund, rejected the request with her approval.
“Five weeks have passed since the January 6th attack on the Capitol building, and many important questions about your responsibility for the security of the Capitol remain unanswered,” they said.
However, Pelosi made clear that she was having none of it, dismissing the letter as an attempt to “deflect” blame from Trump and Republicans.
Whatever reason for the delay, now that National Guards troops are in Washington, they aren’t leaving. Biden is planning on keeping them there indefinitely, perhaps for the rest of the year, Fox News reported.
Many have questioned the necessity of the ongoing militarization, with no indication of a serious threat remaining weeks later.
A warning from Gaetz
While Republicans question what Pelosi knew, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) cautioned against focusing on her alleged failures rather than the “forever occupation” in the riot’s aftermath, Fox News reported.
And while both parties relitigate security failures, it’s still not clear what happened to Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick, Gaetz pointed out.
“Let me caution against leaning too hard into the ‘What did Nancy Pelosi know and when did she know it?’ narrative,” Gaetz warned. “I don’t want to give the Democrats any more of a basis to be able to have this forever occupation of Washington, D.C.”
The post House Republicans press Pelosi for answers on security failures leading up to Capitol riot first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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