What if there were GOP-appointed members of Jan. 6 committee?

The story noted the hearings “carry high political stakes” and reported that Democrats have “retained an experienced television executive” to produce them and have “organized scores of watch parties across the country in hopes of generating interest.” The paper quoted Anat Shenker-Osorio, a liberal political messaging specialist, as saying that “both Democratic ‘base surge voters’ and ‘swing voters’ were motivated by increased attention on the Capitol riot.” “Jan. 6 is very much salient and highly negative to these likely midterm voters,” Shenker-Osorio said.

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And this: “Democrats have met with networks about carrying the hearing live in prime time and have scheduled more than 90 watch events in various states, including a ‘flagship’ event at the Robert A. Taft Memorial and Carillon in Washington, where a large screen will be set up and attendees will get free ice cream.”

Free ice cream! It was all a little too…obvious for Democrats like David Axelrod, former President Barack Obama’s longtime strategist and adviser. On Tuesday morning, linking to the New York Times piece, Axelrod tweeted, “If I were a member of the 1/6 committee, stories like these, casting the hearings as a political cudgel, would make me very unhappy. Conversely, Republicans, who hope to dismiss damning findings as partisan, will seize on them. Let facts speak for themselves.”

One can understand Axelrod’s chagrin, but the facts do speak for themselves. And it is a fact that Democrats hope to benefit politically from the Jan. 6 hearings.

The New York Times also reported that a “significant portion” of Thursday’s hearing “will focus on the Proud Boys, a far-right group whose members have been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the storming of the Capitol.” The hearing’s producers have included testimony from a British documentary filmmaker named Nick Quested, whom the Proud Boys allowed inside the group to record members in action in the days leading up to and including Jan. 6.

As it happens, the committee is the beneficiary of a lucky coincidence. On Monday, just as Jan. 6 Week was kicking off and Democrats rolled out themes they hope to pursue on TV, the Justice Department issued a new, superseding indictment of the Proud Boys charging its members with seditious conspiracy. That is the charge referenced in the New York Times story. So a new, more serious indictment came just in time for the big premiere — a fortunate coincidence for Jan. 6 Democrats.

All of this partisan planning raises an intriguing question. What if there were any Republican-appointed members of the Jan. 6 committee? There aren’t, but what would the hearing be like if there were?

Remember that congressional committees, except for the Jan. 6 committee, are made up of members chosen by the leader of the majority, in this case, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and the leader of the minority, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Last July, when Pelosi created the committee, McCarthy nominated five GOP members: Reps. Jim Banks, Jim Jordan, Kelly Armstrong, Rodney Davis, and Troy Nehls. In an unprecedented move, Pelosi vetoed Banks and Jordan, saying, “The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.” It was a move that, in the words of Politico, “sent shock waves through the House.”

In response, McCarthy withdrew all the Republican nominees. His rationale was that if Pelosi was going to abandon precedent by nixing some opposition party members, then the opposition party was not going to go along with it. So Pelosi appointed the entire committee. The panel’s two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, were appointed by Pelosi. So while it is not accurate to call the committee all-Democratic, it is accurate to say that it is entirely Democratic-appointed.

So what would it be like, what would Thursday night’s premiere be like, if there were Republican-appointed Republicans on the committee? The only certain answer is that, unlike now, there would be a difference in perspectives among the members. There would be members to challenge the assertions of other members, who could then respond. There would be differences of emphasis. There would be, in short, the kind of interactions that congressional committees are supposed to have.

Don’t look for that to happen. And for the moment, Republicans are in the dark. “The biggest thing we miss from not being on the committee is that we don’t particularly know what’s coming,” one GOP aide said in a text exchange on Tuesday. “During the first impeachment, our members were in the depositions and heard evidence from Democrat witnesses. We don’t have that here, and that makes it tough to know how to respond.”

“Obviously we all saw January 6 take place,” the aide continued. “But we just don’t know what these supposed 1,000 people have said behind closed doors.” That was a reference to news accounts in which committee sources said they have interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses. None of those interviews have been witnessed, much less participated in, by Republican-appointed members.

So the show will go on, Thursday night, in prime time. There will no doubt be important information presented. The Capitol riot was a momentous event that called out for investigation. But beneath all the partisanship and showmanship, the hearing will lack the fundamental structure of other congressional hearings. And viewers will be the worse for it.

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