The ultimate test for Republicans – on whether their loyalty lies with the United States or with former President Donald Trump – now looms as Congress votes for a probe on the riots inside Capitol Hill last January.
THE horrors of the January 6 attack of the United States Capitol are slowly haunting back former President Donald Trump and the Republican party after the House of Representatives passed an inquiry that aims to probe the insurrection.
In a 252-175 vote, the Democratic-led initiative was able to pass after 35 members of the Grand Old Party (GOP) joined forces with the other side of the aisle despite urging from Trump and other members of theparty to vote against the motion.
But the situation in the upper chamber will be different since Republican senators hope to thwart the proposal.
The Democrats and supporters of this initiative will need to secure 10 Republican senators for it to pass.
To put that in perspective, the second impeachment against Donald Trump also passed in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives but later failed when it reached the Senate floors.
“After careful consideration, I’ve made the decision to oppose the House Democrats’ slanted and unbalanced proposal for another commission to study the events of January the sixth,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday.
The proposed 10-member bipartisan commission is modelled on the same inquiry that investigated the 9/11 attacks.
It aims to investigate the causes of the riot, the inadequacies in security and intelligence services, and the possible involvement of Trump.
If successfully approved, the commission will file its findings and recommendation on December 31 this year.
Loyalty test
For some politicians and analysts, the voting was seen as a form of loyalty test for members of the GOP to Trump, who still views the former President to be the only leader that could unite the party and lead it forward.
And possible signs of a witch hunt among the ranks of Republicans were on going as efforts to remove top critics of Trump within the party’s hierarchy is happening.
One casualty of this is Congresswoman Liz Cheney who was ousted as the party’s Republican Conference chairperson.
Among the 35 House Republicans who voted for the commission were the 10 representatives who also voted to impeach Trump in the days after the Capitol riot.
"This is about facts - it's not partisan politics,” argued New York representative John Katko who is also a Republican.
“The American people and the Capitol Police deserve answers, and action as soon as possible to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.”
During the transition of power back in January, supporters of Trump stormed the US Congress in a move aimed to prevent the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the November elections.
Several lives were lost during the riot and more than 425 people have been charged so far.
(JT)
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