Commentary
The Jan. 6 House committee just revealed how nakedly political it is. Forget protecting the nation. The committee’s safeguarding the Democratic Party.
After conducting hundreds of depositions and closed-door hearings, committee staff were notified last week that most of their findings—about domestic extremist groups and about law enforcement’s failure to protect the Capitol—will be excluded from the final report. All those investigations, paid for by taxpayers, are destined for the circular file. The committee’s final report, due before the end of the year, will be about Donald Trump and nothing but Donald Trump.
A sensible decision, if the committee’s only purpose is to cripple a possible future Republican presidential candidate. Trump’s conduct that day was damning. But the committee’s mandate was broader—to ensure that the process of electing a president, and the Capitol itself, would be inviolate no matter who runs….