Given all the activity required to get the stimulus bill passed, the attempts at the minimum wage, HR 1 to guarantee voting rights, and an infrastructure bill coming down the pike, it is not surprising, just disappointing, that a 9-11 style commission on the insurrection has yet to be formed. But that doesn’t mean it won’t ever be formed, nor does it mean other parallel investigations cannot begin now. It appears that one might.

From Rawstory, most of us could name at least two of the three and expand the investigation to four:

In six separate letters sent Wednesday to the House Ethics Committee and Office of Congressional Ethics, Jayapal (D-Wash.) called for probes into Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) to determine the extent of “their involvement in the deadly attack on the Capitol.“

“It is critical for the functioning of Congress—and therefore the functioning of our democracy—that this investigation is conducted,” wrote Jayapal. “I urge the House Committee on Ethics and the Office of Congressional Ethics to thoroughly investigate Representatives Boebert, Brooks, and Gosar’s conduct, and refer any appropriate findings to the Department of Justice.”

We would add Marjorie Taylor-Greene, not on the basis that she’s a crazy MAGA, but because she had a meeting in late December at the White House. She admitted that the meeting concerned January 6th. January 6th was supposed to be a protest rally. Why would the White House want to meet with a woman who had never even been sworn into Congress? What topics did they have to meet about?

Congress doesn’t do investigations itself. It hires investigators to make initial findings and if there is sufficient evidence to go forward then Congress holds hearings or makes direct referrals to the Department of Justice.

Speaking of which, on Wednesday, the Senate approved Merrick Garland as attorney general. Perhaps it was not a coincidence that the letter calling for an investigation came out on the same day.

And while we’re on the topic of the Senate, though the House cannot force an investigation of U.S. Senate one would hope that an FBI investigation of Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Tommy Tuberville is already taking place. Either house of Congress can call for investigations and they can go on while the FBI engages in a contemporaneous, secret investigation.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak