House GOP eyes its own Trump-free Jan. 6 inquiry

Even after some of their members took heat for downplaying the violent reality of the Capitol attack, House Republicans are sticking with their take on Jan. 6, 2021 — pivoting away from Donald Trump and toward security failures.

GOP lawmakers, if they flip the chamber in November, are planning to use their new power to search for more answers on security lapses related to the siege by Trump supporters and how the Capitol Police has adjusted in wake of the breach. Republicans also want to look at restructuring the secretive board that governs the protection of the Capitol complex.

While past investigations by the Senate and Capitol Police inspector general have thoroughly explored many of those areas and made a laundry list of recommendations to bolster security, not to mention a forthcoming report from the Democratic-run Jan. 6 select committee, House GOP lawmakers are determined to run their own, Trump-free inquiry.

It’s a contradictory turn for a conference that has struggled for a successful message defending Trump against revelations already uncovered by the select panel, instead largely urging Washington to move on. But after two years of being on the outside looking in —Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled his picks from the panel after Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two of them — House Republicans are eager to flip the script.

“I think it’s been very well-documented that there were significant intelligence and communications failures on Jan. 6. It’s not the first time we’ve had those issues,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), who voted to certify President Joe Biden’s Electoral College win, said in an interview. “We have to stop that."

Though House Republicans have stayed almost completely out of the ongoing Jan. 6 probe, they’ve quietly laid the groundwork for changes to the Capitol’s security apparatus that would take effect much more quickly than the investigations they plan to mount.

For example, they want to get rid of the metal detectors installed around the House floor after Jan. 6 that have fueled GOP ire and resulted in hefty fines for lawmakers who tried to dodge them. They are also eager to reopen the Capitol complex, which still has restrictions in place after shuttering at the start of the pandemic. Armstrong noted while many of his colleagues will look back at Jan. 6, his focus is on how the building operates moving forward on a “general 11 a.m. on a Wednesday.”

But more central to the party’s 2023 plans is a report, slated for release later this year by a group of Republicans led by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) — who is eyeing his own jump to leadership — that urges changes to the management and structure of Capitol security.

Banks, who supported pro-Trump election objections, said that the report he's helming "will make recommendations to the next speaker … on how to provide better leadership and oversight of the Capitol Police."

A GOP aide familiar with the group’s work said that the forthcoming report will make recommendations to the department's “command and control” in particular.

Law enforcement officials on and off the Hill are aware that they could soon be in a new hot seat over Jan. 6 after the midterms. But asked about the potential for a fresh GOP-led probe starting next year, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told POLITICO that he “can’t control any of that” and that he was “not worried about that.”

Separately, Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, is leaving Congress after losing his primary but planning to hand his successor a detailed Capitol security restructuring plan on his way out. Whoever replaces Davis as the committee's most senior Republican will become chair if the GOP flips the chamber, taking power over Hill security.

“[I] don't want to hamstring whomever my successor is going to be … but I'm going to be pretty forceful in ensuring that our plan and our road map to the majority — that has been very collaboratively thought out and also working in conjunction with our leadership team — is implemented,” said Davis, who voted to certify Biden's win.

Part of Davis’ focus is additional physical security upgrades and also reforming the Capitol Police Board, which he said was plagued by “overwhelming bureaucracy.” That obscure board, created in the 19th century, empowers a three-member leadership panel with security decisions for the complex. Congress passed legislation last year to give the Capitol Police chief, a fourth non-voting member of the board, more autonomy during an emergency.

Davis had vowed to use the typically low-key Administration panel to probe Capitol security and the Jan. 6 select committee. One aspirant to claim the gavel next year who's come under scrutiny by the select panel, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), has also vowed to look into both topics if he becomes chair.

Specifically, House Republicans have accused the select committee of insufficiently focusing on security failures at the Capitol that contributed to the severity of the riot. Though that area has taken a backseat to Trump-focused bombshells in the public hearings so far, the Jan. 6 panel’s forthcoming report and recommendations are expected to dive into what went wrong on the security front.

The Democratic-led Administration Committee has also held several hearings on the topic, and an aide said the House could still take up legislation this year “to implement changes to the Capitol security apparatus.”

The Capitol Police's inspector general has already made more than 100 recommendations on security changes; two aides said in an interview that just under half of them remain open. Staffing is a particular struggle for the department, which is still 200 employees short of authorized employment levels.

Manger said in a recent interview that the law enforcement arm is also “at least 300 short of where I would like us to be ultimately,” adding that the department had finally gotten ahead of attrition. The Capitol Police has also made changes to intelligence and planning that Manger said would have resulted in a “very different outcome" if they were in place before Jan. 6.

But some of the GOP’s areas of focus predate the siege by Trump backers hoping to disrupt congressional certification of Biden's victory. Part of the plan Davis is crafting will be legislation he rolled out pre-Jan. 6 aimed at bolstering transparency within the Capitol Police, including a mandate for public availability of inspector general reports.

Other areas of a future Republican probe of Capitol security, if the House flips GOP next year, are likely to go beyond the attack and touch on other, broader decisions made under Pelosi's tenure. Republicans have particularly bristled over coronavirus-related policies under Democratic control, including the decision to allow Covid-exposed members to vote in person during the momentous speakership ballot.

And that's not the only element of a future GOP investigation that could rope in Pelosi directly. House Republicans, including members of leadership, have falsely suggested that the California Democrat played an outsized role in directing security for Jan. 6. Pelosi has stressed she delegates security decisions and isn’t involved in day-to-day operations. Republicans have also said they don’t see a need to chat with then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Pelosi’s counterpart on the day of the attack.

"Numerous independent fact checkers have confirmed that Speaker Pelosi did not plan her own assassination," said Pelosi's deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill. "The former President's desperate lies aside, the Speaker was no more in charge of the security of the U.S. Capitol that day than Mitch McConnell."

Nicholas Wu contributed to reporting.