#BREAKING: Pelosi announces members of the 1/6 select committee including representatives:
Bennie Thompson, Chair
Liz Cheney
Jamie Raskin
Stephanie Murphy
Elaine Luria
Zoe Lofgren
Adam Schiff
Pete Aguilar
Chair @BennieGThompson says at today's press conference unveiling membership of the select 1/6 cmte: "[Speaker Pelosi] you met Republicans more than halfway in an effort to stand up a bipartisan independent commission."
Pelosi brushes off a question from a reporter who starts out his questions asking about what McCarthy has to say about appointments. "Go ask him and his caucus."
McCarthy does have a presser today at 11:30.
A question on how Liz Cheney was appointed comes up and Pelosi tells reporters, Cheney was chosen for the same reasons Cheney stated publicly, she was concerned about getting to the bottom of what happened on 1/6.
We practically have to remind people what the purpose of this committee is, Pelosi says, as she faces down yet another question about where McCarthy falls on all this.
Lofgren says this committee is about what caused a mob of Americans to disrupt the counting of votes certifying the election, how it was paid for, how it was organized and more
How could Capitol Police ever suspect that the former president would incite an insurrection? Pelosi asks. Getting to the bottom of what happened on 1/6 is a means of supporting these officers who protected her and everyone else inside the Cap that day
.@RepAdamSchiff: We know there was intel collected prior to the attack but we know some intel wasn't gathered. Why it wasn't gathered, whether intel was acted upon and so forth, this is just some of what has been looked at already yet no sufficient answers yet
Schiff: With the specific focus granted by the 1/6 Committee, we can find out why we didn't see this coming, what kind of advance warning we should have had, what are the mechanisms in place available to prevent a threat
Schiff says the committee's action and investigation will help put pressure on the appropriate agencies to help congress prepare for such threat in the future.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy emphasizes today that she wants to understand not just 1/6 but also what is motivating domestic terrorism in America
.@RepRaskin, a former impeachment manager: "The impeachment trial of Donald Trump - determined by robust bipartisan bicameral majorities - that he incited the violence on 1/6. But we need to figure out who organized the violence of Jan. 6, how and why did they organize it?
Raskin: What were the purposes of different critical actors on that day?
That's why this investigation is critical for every American... because we need to defend our democracy with everything that we've got.
Meanwhile, from the desk of Rep. Adam Schiff who was tapped to serve on the 1/6 select committee today:
On heels of 1.6 news, McCarthy kicks off today's presser offering condolences for the fams of those harmed or killed in the building collapse at Surfside. Then says D's turned back on Israel by rejecting his unanimous consent req for US funding to the Israeli Iron Dome system
McCarthy says "when Republicans retake the House in 2023," the Republican conference will have the "answers and solutions" American people need re: jobs etc
McCarthy is attacking the Democratic legislative agenda, talking about crime in Chicago and slams D's for "Defunding the Police" but he does not mention his caucus members rejected Biden bills that would have funded police more
The first q. is about Liz Cheney and reports earlier today of her having her cmte assignments stripped by McCarthy if serving on 1.6 "I'm not making any threats" McCarthy says, drawing comparisons to Amash and VanDrew, who left their party.
"It was shocking to me,' McCarthy says, that a person who is was a Republican, who gets committee assignments from the Republican conference, it was shocking for someone to accept cmte assignments from speaker Pelosi. "That's unprecedented."
Does McCarthy regret not helping 1/6 bipartisan commission
"No, I regret the politics of Nancy Pelosi... She played politics with us for six months."
McCarthy is cagey at today's press conference, saying he will name his members to the select 1/6 committee when he has news on that. @CourthouseNews
McCarthy says he does have questions about intelligence failures that happened in the days before, brushes off q's about Trump's culpability in attack.
When a reporter points out that Pelosi has a quorum, with or without his members, he repeats, he'll announce when he has news.
"Maybe she's closer to her than us," @GOPLeader
says of @RepLizCheney who was named to the select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol
(His conference unceremoniously ousted her when she didn't toe the line for Trump)
Inbox: Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina will have her appeal of a $5,000 fine for allegedly evading House metal detectors upheld, the House Ethics Committee announces.
Foxx was heading to a vote & according to an incident report by U.S. Capitol Police in May, she evaded a magnometer, brushed off a request for her to stop and then allegedly told reporter Olivia Beavers "Why don't you deal with things that are important?" forbes.com/sites/andrewso…
The comment to Beavers, as first reported, was prompted because Beavers saw Foxx skip past the magnometer and said, "I don’t want to get you guys in trouble, but I’m going to be reporting on that."
Starting today in Virginia: Adults 21 and older can legally possess weed in the commonwealth. You can't have more than 1 oz of cannabis though + no intent to distribute. The commonwealth legalized it back in April. Ppl with over 1lb of weed? You face up to 10 years in prison.
Though legal possession of small amounts of marijuana is effective today in Virginia, you still cannot legally consume it public. And you can only own up to 4 plants at home for personal use.
Today: The House will debate and vote on legislation to form the select committee investigating the insurrection at the US Capitol that happened almost six months ago.
Stay tuned for coverage from @CourthouseNews.
In a letter to colleagues today @Pelosi reflects on Lincoln's letter to Congress a year into the Civil War. (Here: millercenter.org/the-presidency…)
She implores the House: "We too cannot escape history," and says there is a duty to the nation and Constitution to form the 1/6 committee.
Remarks from @SpeakerPelosi's letter to colleagues on today's vote forming the 1/6 committee:
Now on the House floor, 1HR of debate for the Inspector General Independence and Empowerment Act ahead of a vote on passage.
Its aim is to prevent political retaliation and would not allow an IG to be removed for anything other than a documented cause & for non partisan reasons.
You may remember why this is important if you remember last spring when Trump fired and sidelined IGs like it was going out of style.
Glenn Fine was removed as acting DoD IG by Trump, blocking him from serving on pandemic response accountability committee, overseeing trillions.
Trump also removed Mike Atkinson, the intel community's IG. And Trump removed Mitch Behm as acting transportation IG. And Steve Linnick who was investing former SoS Pompeo's abuse of resources,. Trump removed IG Christi Grimm at HHS too.
Taney, the chief justice who would have his bust removed if this legislation passes, literally thought Black people "benefitted from slavery." Literally.
I don't call this a racist country but this country has, on occasion, too often for my tastes, tolerated racism. That's a fact. nobody can deny that fact. - Jim Clyburn to GOP Leader McCarthy after McC railed about what he considers CRT ahead of this vote: c-span.org/event/?513010/…