Pelosi says she would be open to abandoning 9/11-style commission for Capitol riot if efforts remain stalled

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said for the first time that she would be open to establishing a select committee to probe the January 6 riot at the US Capitol if attempts to create an independent 9/11-style commission remain stalled.

“It’s always an option,” Pelosi told USA Today in an interview published Tuesday. “It’s not my preference in any way. My preference would be to have a commission.”

The California Democrat had announced in mid-February plans to create a panel similar to the 9/11 Commission to “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to” the insurrection, but while the formation of such a commission initially received broad, bipartisan support, no significant progress has been made on the effort.

A commission of this nature would need to be established by a statute, passed by both chambers and signed into law by the President. The commission members would not be elected leaders but would be from outside the government.

The 9/11 panel was chaired by a former Republican governor with a former Democratic congressman as vice chair; its members included other former lawmakers and government officials from both parties.

A plan drafted by Democrats said commissioners would be tasked with filing their report by the end of the year. The commission would then end 60 days after the report was issued.

But both Republicans and Democrats involved in the negotiations say the talks on the issue have ground to a halt with little communication between the two sides. While Pelosi has not agreed to a 50-50 partisan split on the commission, she argues that the real problem is a GOP unwillingness to focus the probe specifically on what led to the insurrection. Republican leaders have argued that political violence in general should be a topic of the investigation.

Pelosi also told the newspaper that she would introduce legislation soon to strengthen security measures at the Capitol, as no action has been taken since retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who led a review of security at the Capitol in the wake of the riot, released his recommendations.

Pelosi said in the interview that the mob that stormed the Capitol in an attack that left five dead had wanted to kill her but that she felt safe because of the security around her.

“That’s what they were setting out to do,” she told USA Today.

The speaker said she would never forgive the rioters for the trauma the attack caused for lawmakers and staffers, who had to go into lockdown as security officials struggled to regain control of the iconic building when it was briefly overtaken by the mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

This story has been updated with background information.