Speaker Pelosi: Use the Remaining Five Appointments to Make Sure That the Select Committee on Jan. 6th Gets to the Bottom of the Insurrection
An open letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
Indivisible San Francisco
July 25, 2021
Speaker Pelosi, you have the singular power to appoint representatives to the Select Committee on the Jan. 6th insurrection, five of which were to be in consultation with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Now that you rightfully rejected two insurrection-supporting representatives among Minority Leader McCarthy’s nominations, he has pulled all five of his nominations. Those seats are still open.
We of Indivisible San Francisco strongly urge you to fill the remaining seats with members who will get to all of the facts of what happened, who will be effective at communicating the import of it to the public, and who will not be reticent to seek meaningful consequences for the perpetrators, no matter how high their station. We recommend that you choose among representatives such as these:
- Rep. Eric Swalwell, who has been clear-eyed, outspoken, and relentless on Trump regime accountability
- Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is courageous about challenging powerful people on matters of the highest import, and who patriotically drafted articles of impeachment on the afternoon of Jan. 6th
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who prepares exceedingly well for hearings, and whose public communication abilities are unmatched
- Rep. Steve Cohen, who correctly saw the need for accountability via impeachment early in the Trump regime, and who introduced a fitting scope of articles
- Rep. Katie Porter, who asks crucial questions in a manner that resonates with the public and does not let go
We also urge you to make the Select Committee more effective in the following critical ways:
- Empower the Select Committee to call upon the Sergeant at Arms to enforce contempt of Congress violations if a witness refuses to testify or gives false or non-responsive answers. In particular, renew the House’s inherent contempt enforcement authority of confinement.
- Do not shy from investigating representatives and senators, including calling them as witnesses. Finish the work that the second Trump impeachment started. Make it explicit that, at the conclusion of the investigation, the Select Committee may recommend representatives for expulsion from the House.
- Make it explicit that the committee will refer individuals to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution as appropriate, depending upon what the Select Committee finds.
- Declare a theme of the Select Committee to be rooting out white nationalist despotism in American government.
We greatly appreciate your formation of the Select Committee as well as your rejection of Republican nominees who supported the “big lie” about the 2020 presidential election. Now let’s make it an investigation that commands the nation’s attention, that gets to the bottom of every significant relevant story, that directly addresses the white nationalism that fueled the insurrection (and that is fueling further violent threats to our form of government), and that obtains accountability and justice with real consequences.
We held a Deadline for Democracy rally with Indivisible East Bay!
Indivisible SF and Indivisible East Bay co-hosted the July 7th downtown Oakland Deadline for Democracy rally, with over 250 people in attendance. With music, speakers, postcards and a teach-in, we called on our elected officials to protect democracy and pass the For the People Act.
See the IndyBay report and photos, IEB’s action report-back, and the video of the rally speakers.
Some of our members also attended the July 17th downtown Oakland candlelight vigil for John Lewis and on ending the filibuster and passing federal voting protections. One of our leading members, Bruce Hartford, spoke of his civil rights organizing experiences at both events. See the photos from the vigil.
