Nancy Pelosi’s Tough Choice

Jonathan Bernstein: “Now that Senate Republicans have defeated an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is moving ahead with a backup plan and setting up a House select committee. Right away, she’s going to have a difficult decision to make.”

“By rule, Pelosi has the authority to veto Republican selections for the committee; by custom, parties choose their own members for such panels. But this is, to say the least, an unusual situation. Only a handful of House Republicans voted to impeach former President Donald Trump over the attack on the Capitol. Only 35 voted to support the originally proposed commission. It’s not clear how many Republicans even acknowledge that Joe Biden won the election and was legitimately inaugurated; most of them will at least say that he’s president, but many duck the question of how he got there. Some still back Trump’s false claims about fraud. And a handful participated publicly in riling up the crowd on Jan. 6.”