10 things you need to know today: May 20, 2021 Harold Maass
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The House on Wednesday passed a bipartisan proposal seeking to create an independent commission to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 attack against the Capitol by a mob of former President Donald Trump s supporters. The plan calls for Democratic and Republican leaders to appoint five members each on the 10-person commission. Both sides would have subpoena power. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) opposed the plan, but 35 Republicans joined Democrats in the 252-175 vote. The bill faces bigger hurdles in the Senate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) came out against it on Wednesday, calling it slanted and unbalanced. The panel would be modeled on the 9/11 Commission, whose chairs, former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, a Republican, and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, a Democrat, support the bill. [
The bill creating the commission, which would have subpoena power, passed 252-175. Republican U.S. Reps. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio and Van Taylor of Plano were the only two GOP Texans to support the measure.
Demonstrators in support of former President Donald Trump gather on May 1 outside the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, where a controversial 2020 general election review was set to begin. Trump has heartily supported the audit.
With Twitter taken away from him, former President Donald Trump has been largely out of the spotlight and unable to drive news narratives the way he did when he was president and on social media.
But Trump continues to have great influence with Republican elected leaders because of his continued popularity with the GOP base.
And he s ramping up the messages he s sending for all to see on the blog-like portion of his post-presidency website. What s he focused on? Relitigating his election loss.
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U.S. Reps. Mike Simpson, left, and Russ Fulcher, both R-Idaho
WASHINGTON (Idaho Capital Sun) The U.S. House voted Wednesday 252-175 to give the go-ahead to the formation of an independent, bipartisan commission that would investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, despite objections from Republican leaders that the scope of the commission was not wide enough and other investigations are ongoing.
Thirty-five Republicans joined with Democrats in backing the measure, which would set up a 10-member commission styled on the panel that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, with appointed members split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.
Republican Senator Who Voted to Convict Trump Opposes Jan. 6 Commission
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who voted to convict former President Donald Trump in February’s Senate trial, said he opposes the creation of a 9/11-style commission to examine the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, which was passed in the House on Wednesday.
Burr, who previously served as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, noted the Department of Justice, several other agencies, and several congressional committees are currently investigating the Jan. 6 incident.
“The Justice Department is currently conducting one of the largest federal criminal investigations in history and has already made hundreds of arrests,” the Republican senator, who announced he won’t seek reelection in 2022, said in a statement. “These investigations are being led by the committees with jurisdiction, and I believe, as I always have, this is the appropriate course. I don’t believe establishing a new commission is necessary or