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POLITICS

Dem Pelosi, GOP’S Cheney team up for Jan. 6 inquiry

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Rep. Liz Cheney are bonding over a shared belief that the truth about the insurrection must be investigated and that those responsible at the highest levels of government must be held accountable.

WASHINGTON • When Nancy Pelosi raised a glass to Liz Cheney, it was the most unlikely of toasts.

Democratic lawmakers and the Republican congresswoman were gathered in the House speaker’s office as the group prepared for the first session of the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Pelosi spoke of the “solemn responsibility” before them and raised her water glass to Cheney, a daughter of the former vice president and the sole Republican in the room.

“Let us salute Liz for her courage,” she said, according to a person familiar with the gathering who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

Politics often creates unlikely alliances, but the emerging partnership between Pelosi and Cheney is remarkable as the longtime political adversaries join forces to investigate what happened the day former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol.

Two of the strongest women on Capitol Hill, partisans at opposite ends of the political divide, have been bonding over a shared belief that the truth about the insurrection should come out and those responsible held accountable.

“Nothing draws politicians together like a shared enemy,” said John Pitney, a former Republican staffer and professor of politics at Claremont Mckenna College.

The committee will hold its first hearing next week and hear testimony from police officers who battled the Trump supporters that day at the Capitol.

The officers have portrayed the hourslong siege as hardly a gathering of peaceful demonstrators but rather a violent mob trying to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election.

As the new partnership unfolds, the risks and rewards have an uneven flow.

Pelosi benefits more politically from drawing Cheney to her side, giving the committee’s investigation the bipartisan stamp it needs to avoid being viewed as a strictly political exercise.

For Cheney, who has been booted from GOP leadership over her criticism of Trump, the political dangers are far greater. She was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over the insurrection, and her willingness to speak out against his top ally, House Minority Leader Kevin Mccarthy, now leaves her isolated on Capitol Hill.

Cheney is facing blowback from the ranks and serious primary challenges for her reelection back home.

“I’m horrified,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a fellow Wyoming Republican, about Cheney’s actions.

Cheney, though, shows no signs of backing down.

“The American people deserve to know what happened,” she said this week.

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2021-07-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/281797107022094

The Gazette, Colorado Springs