Presidential Commission to investigate the January 6 Attack on the Capitol

Since Congress won't appoint a Commission, the President should.

Something happened on January 6. Let's find out what. Let the chips fall where they may.

Republicans should reverse course quickly and agree to a Congressional commission, but they are probably too late and too dug in. 

On January 6 Americans stormed the Capitol and attempted to stop Congress from certifying the election of a new president. The National Guard was available, but not deployed. The president spoke and urged people to go to the Capitol; to do what, exactly? The Capitol Police gave an uneven response, with some actively attempting to stop the rioters, others not. Some people in the Capitol considered themselves simply "petitioning their government;" others were organized, were awaiting formal orders from the president for direct action, expecting him to announce martial law. Were people actively considering assaulting or killing officeholders, or simply intimidating them with visible evidence of the will of the people to void the election?

Americans have a system to review complicated events of national importance. We form a commission to investigate and report. After 911, Congress authorized an independent, bipartisan investigation into the terrorist attacks. After President Kennedy was assassinated, President Johnson created the Warren Commission. After the long, hot summer of civil disturbances in 1967, President Johnson established the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, the Kerner Commission.

Republicans in Congress decided to try to stop and discredit investigations into the events of January 6, saying they would surely be partisan and biased and not to their advantage. They recognize that then-President Trump and people closely associated with him were involved, as were Republican members of the House and Senate--as witnesses if not as abettor.

Republicans are mis-reading the situation. January 6 cannot be hidden away. Republicans shot down a Congressionally authorized commission that would have given Republicans equal membership and veto power over whom to subpoena and the direction of the inquiry. The calculation was that a credible investigation would un-earth unflattering material and hurt them in the mid-term elections. Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy were open about that motive.

It looks like a cover-up, a bad look for Republicans. The GOP coalition is more than just populist Trump voters. It includes serious businesspeople--the donor class--who want stability and predictability. Populist authoritarianism is a threat. They will pressure GOP officeholders from the money side. The persuadable middle in American politics is uncomfortable with Stop the Steal rioting; more pressure. The GOP base is getting more passionate but narrower.

Republicans gave Biden a gift and he should accept it. This is an opportunity for Joe Biden to be a strong, decisive leader--and to display his bipartisan orientation.

Kerner Commission, 1968

Congress has no credibility as an independent, bipartisan anything. Congress is noteworthy for its naked partisanship and party-line voting. Its most visible members are provocateurs. A commission is better off without Congress' sanction. A storm on the Capitol is an act of war against American democracy. The president is the commander in chief; he should appoint a commission.

Biden--for better or worse--is in fact a bi-partisan politician with a veteran legislator's orientation toward getting buy-in from the other side.  As a spokesman with a bully pulpit, that is a disadvantage, but in this instance it works for Biden. Biden can happily appoint members who have more credibility for fairness and judgement and impartiality than would any commission members appointed by Congress. Biden can put noteworthy conservatives--but not Trumpists--on the commission. He can choose people with credibility as old-school Republican and avoid grandstanders with an eye on future office or a role as a media opinion host.

Like whom?  Retired federal judges. University presidents. Police chiefs. District attorneys. Retired admirals and generals. Former GOP officeholders. Senior businesspeople. Ideally some members will have been appointed to something by a Republican president and approved by the senate with multiple Republican votes. This is a time when age is an advantage; choose people who are concerned with legacy, not ambition. Former president George W. Bush might be a member. Or Condoleezza Rice.

Biden need not worry about his appointees being "too conservative" so long as they have the political independence to seek and report the truth. He has little risk that a commission with multiple law enforcement conservatives will look at the events and say that it is all Nancy Pelosi's fault. His risk is that Republicans will say that Biden stacked the deck and the report can be dismissed as partisan. He should make it impossible to do that.

Biden has an opportunity to shine. Something happened, and we ought to find out what it was.