WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday that lawmakers will set up an outside, independent committee to review the “facts and causes” associated with the January 6 deadly attack on the Capitol by supporters of then President Donald Trump.
Pelosi said in a letter to lawmakers that the commission would be modeled after a similar commission convened after the September 11, 2001 attack on New York and the Pentagon. Pelosi said the panel will also look at the “facts and causes related to the readiness and response of the Capitol police and other federal, state and local law enforcement officials.”
She has tasked retired US Army Lieutenant General Russel Honoré with assessing the Capitol’s security needs in the aftermath of the attack. Based on his interim findings, she said Congress should allocate additional funds “to ensure the safety of members and the security of the Capitol.”
She added, “It is clear from his findings and from the impeachment trial that we need to find out how this happened.”
More than a month after the attack that killed five when pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and tried to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory as president, the Capitol complex is still guarded and surrounded by more than 5,000 National Guard troops. edged with barbed wire by eight-foot fences. The troops are expected to stay until mid-March.
Last month, the U.S. Capitol Police Chief urged lawmakers to add permanent fencing and backup security, noting that a 2006 security review recommended installing a permanent fence around the Capitol.
Many lawmakers and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser have urged congressional leaders not to adopt permanent fencing or permanent military security.
More than 200 people have been charged with federal crimes during the bloody attack on Congress that led to Trump’s impeachment trial on charges of inciting insurgency. Trump was acquitted by a 57-43 vote on Saturday, when seven Republican senators joined the Democrats for sentencing, though they failed to achieve the required majority.
Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Richard Chang and Dan Grebler