Politics

US House approves plan to investigate Capitol riot

Washington DC, May 19 (EFE).- The United States House of Representatives on Wednesday voted for the creation of an independent commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 by supporters of former president Donald Trump.

In a vote of 252-175, the House approved the bill, which will now be passed to the Senate for approval.

A total of 35 Republican lawmakers voted in favor of the commission despite Trump urging them to vote against it and efforts by party leaders in Congress to prevent defections.

The proposed commission will be based on that set up to investigate the 9/11 attacks and would consist of 10 members, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

Republican lawmaker John Katko and Democrat Bennie Thompson wrote the bill after weeks of negotiations.

However, Republican leaders opposed it in recent hours after initially showing some ambiguity.

Their opposition coincided with a statement from Trump on Tuesday night urging Republican lawmakers to vote against a commission which could even call him to testify, calling it a “Democratic trap.”

“Republicans must get much tougher and much smarter, and stop being used by the Radical Left. Hopefully, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are listening!” said the former president, referring to the party’s leaders in the Senate and the House, respectively.

McCarthy, and McConnell – who will vote when the proposal reaches the Senate but has already announced his opposition – have obeyed the order, once again showing Trump’s sway over the Republican Party.

McConnell’s opposition is especially important since the bill requires a majority of 60 votes in the Senate to pass, which means at least 10 Republicans would need to back it.

At the moment, it seems unlikely that enough Republicans will defect to approve the creation of the commission. EFE

at/pd/tw

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