Republican congressional leaders are united: They don’t want an investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, they were willing to say that Donald Trump bore responsibility. But after a few months of processing the fear they felt on that day and their fear of angering Trump, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have landed squarely on Not Wanting to Know More. In response, Democratic leaders are talking about committee investigations in which they’d have a majority of members and subpoena power.

The bill to establish a commission will easily pass the House with at least some Republican votes. But the filibuster remains a hurdle in the Senate, where it’s far from clear that 10 Republicans will support even the extreme compromise House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed to, with equal representation of Democrats and Republicans and shared control of subpoena power. Let’s check in on some of the weaseling that Republican senators are engaged in.

Wednesday, May 19, 2021 · 8:49:32 PM +00:00 · Hunter

The United States Capitol Police has issued a scathing statement condemning Republican leaders for their opposition. “It is inconceivable that some of the Members we protect, would down play the events of January 6th. Member safety was dependent on the heroic actions of USCP. It is a privileged assumption for Members to have the point of view that ‘it wasn’t that bad.’”

Wednesday, May 19, 2021 · 9:11:45 PM +00:00 · Hunter

The USCP statement came from individual anonymous members of the force, not from USPC leadership.

Wednesday, May 19, 2021 · 10:54:31 PM +00:00 · Hunter

The House bill passes by a vote of 252-175. 35 Republicans and all Democrats voted yes.

Some Republicans, including McConnell, are complaining that the Democratic chair of the commission would have the power to hire and fire staff. South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds cited that as he moved from tentative support of a commission on Tuesday to opposition on Wednesday. As PBS reporter Lisa Desjardins pointed out, though, it’s the same language about staff hires as applied to the 9/11 commission. 

Sen. Richard Shelby had one for the ages, saying, “Hell, we were all witnesses to all this. We don’t need a commission to tell us what happened.” Literally a target of mob violence taking the position, “Eh, I know all I need to know, let’s move on. And please, please don’t tell us—or, more to the point, the public—how it happened, or why, or who was involved in planning it.”

Give Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene this much: She’s more honest than many of her Republican colleagues, saying in a Facebook Live on Wednesday that the media will “use the information to just make everyone look bad.” Greene thinks this would be unfair of the media—how dare they accurately report on the violence committed by insurrectionists at a cost to the public image of said insurrectionists!—but at least she’s clear that that’s her problem, rather than whining about who hires the staff.

Sen. John Thune was also semi-honest, saying “Anything that gets us rehashing the 2020 election, I think, is a day lost on being able to draw contrast between us and the Democrats’ very radical left wing agenda.” Jan. 6 was not the election—it was, in fact, months later—and he’s admitting that he’d rather ignore political violence aimed at overturning the last election in order to campaign for the next election, but it is refreshing to see Republicans admit how morally bankrupt they are.

In response to Republicans turning against a bill that, according to House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson, was negotiated with McCarthy’s knowledge, Democratic leaders say they’ll go ahead with other investigations. “Of course” he’d support a select House committee, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said. And Pelosi offered that as something of a warning to Republicans:

Good. Do it. Don’t let Republicans drag this out any longer.