Adam Schiff, Impeachment Managers Return on January 6 Commission

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who led the House managers during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who led them during the second trial, will return to the fore as members of the January 6 commission.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appointed Schiff — one of the most divisive figures in American politics — and Raskin to a select committee to investigate the Capitol riot, after Republicans rejected an effort to create a bipartisan commission, saying its mandate would be too narrow. The GOP wanted to investigate violent unrest throughout the U.S. over the last year.

Pelosi also appointed Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who served as a House impeachment manager under Schiff. Other appointees include Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), and the committees only Republican thus far, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).

Schiff appeared to confirm Republican misgivings about the commission when he told MSNBC last week that the investigation would focus on what then-President Donald Trump knew about the riot, and whether senior Republican leaders encouraged the “Stop the Steal” rally — the peaceful demonstration one mile away.

.@RepAdamSchiff previews what the 1/6 committee will examine:

* Any “advance notice” Trump had of an organized violent insurrection attempt

* Role of GOP members of Congress in promoting Stop the Steal

* Trump’s conduct/convos with Rs during attackhttps://t.co/HQ2FF95sJC pic.twitter.com/DUArz735Pz

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 7, 2021

Schiff will sit in judgment of people who believed the 2020 election was stolen, though he was one of the proponents of the claim that Trump’s 2016 election was illegitimate because of “Russian collusion,” which turned out not to exist.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.