Tell Speaker Pelosi: It's time for a tough Select Committee on the January 6th terrorist attack

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Representative Nancy Pelosi (Congressional District 11)

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Call Script

My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.

Short Phone Ask:

Now that Republican Senators have filibustered and ended debate on the January 6th commission, it is time to use your Democratic majority in the House to establish, by majority vote, a real and effective Select Committee to investigate the January 6th terrorist attack. I urge you to appoint a Select Committee that will be able to issue and enforce subpoenas, hold public hearings and produce a final report to the American people.

Longer Email/Mail Ask:

Now that Republican Senators have filibustered and ended debate on The January 6th Commission, it is time to use your Democratic majority in the House to impose, by majority vote, a real and effective Select Committee to investigate the January 6th Insurrection. Appoint a Select Committee that will be able to issue and enforce subpoenas, hold public hearings, and produce a final report to the American people.

The Select Committee should be empowered with the authority to:

Refuse membership to any Members of Congress who voted to overturn election results after they had been certified by their states, signed any amicus court briefs to overturn election results, or continue to minimize the gravity of the attack.
Independently issue subpoenas with enforcement power (passing Rep. Ted Lieu’s Congressional Inherent Contempt Power Act would help)
Allow criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.
Hold hearings broadcast to the public.
Produce a report available for public review.
Let the hearing process, not political concerns, dictate the timeline, especially since this is an investigation of an attempt to invalidate our last election.
Declare the theme of the Committee to be rooting out white nationalist despotism in American government.

Background

Our Capitol was attacked by terrorists (domestic violent extremists, as the FBI & DHS call them -*1) on January 6, 2021. A large mob, motivated by white-supremacy and partisan animus, was incited by Trump and Republican members of Congress (*11) to storm the Capitol building for the stated purpose of preventing Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election, or “Stop The Steal.”

Evidence continues to emerge about the intentions of those domestic violent extremists, as more of them are indicted in Federal Court.(*2) Apparently, Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes’ instructions to his followers during a meeting on November 9th suggest that he viewed the Oath Keepers as the shock troops who would be quelling left-wing dissent, while Trump clung to power by invoking the Insurrection Act. (*2, *3) This fits in with what we heard from Retired General Michael Flynn in December 2020. urging the former president to declare Martial Law, suspend the Constitution and have the military oversee a re-vote.(*4)

Republican Members of Congress have continued to minimize the gravity of the January 6th terrorist attack on our Capitol aimed at stopping the peaceful transfer of power. (*5) On May 28th, after McConnell had asked them to do so as a favor to him (*14), Republican Senators filibustered The January 6th Commission vote, defeating the proposal, 35 to 54, without the hours of debate Senator Manchin insists the filibuster is there to protect.(*6) The day after that vote, Retired General Michael Flynn called for a violent military coup in the USA.(*7)

The January 6th attack involved serious offenses under U.S. law and our Constitution:

Under U.S. law, an “insurrection” is a “violent uprising by a group or movement acting for the specific purpose of overthrowing the constituted government and seizing its powers. An insurrection occurs where a movement acts to overthrow the constituted government and to take possession of its inherent powers.”(*8)

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” (*9)

It has been disturbing to watch these grave Constitutional violations being discussed too tepidly by some Democratic Members of Congress, perhaps tempered by outmoded fantasies about bipartisanship. Citing bipartisanship, when dealing with the party that includes many who were complicit in abetting, supporting or dismissing the highly-partisan terrorist attack (*11), seems woefully out of touch with current realities. We share Rep. Cori Bush’s perspective, in her first legislative act, that Members of Congress who have participated in trying to invalidate the votes of millions of people should be removed from office. “This is sedition. We must hold these Republicans accountable for their role in this insurrection at our nation’s Capitol as part of a racist attempt to overturn the election results. There must be consequences, and I am proud to be leading 47 of my colleagues in introducing this legislation, which would initiate the appropriate investigations for removal.” (*13)

References

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