First, in May, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell chose to oppose an independent commission to investigate the January 6, 2021 violence at the US Capitol, even though its creation had been part of a bipartisan agreement in the House — and 35 House Republicans had voted in favor of it.

Second, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the presence of GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana on the panel examining January 6, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy chose to withdraw all Republican members he had nominated for the House committee investigating January 6. 
 
Both measures were driven by the same belief: that by opposing an independent commission and refusing to maintain any of their nominees on the House committee, Republicans would be able to effectively short-circuit the investigation's effectiveness and impact before it even began.

Without Republican assistance, the investigation would appear to be a partisan witch hunt, with no tangible political damage to the GOP. "Republicans will not be a party to their sham process and will instead pursue our investigation of the facts," McCarthy said at the time.

With each passing week. however, those twin decisions look worse and worse for Republicans. Among the things learned about the January 6 committee's work in just the last few months is that Marc Short, former Vice President Mike Pence's Chief of Staff, recently testified before the committee, CNN exclusively reported.

Trump's records disclosed 

In addition, former President Donald Trump failed to hide more than 700 White House records from the committee relating to the events of January 6. All of those materials are now in the hands of the committee. The Justice Department also charged former Trump strategist Steve Bannon with criminal contempt after he refused to comply with the committee's subpoena.

These events indicate that the committee has already achieved more progress than Republican leaders anticipated when they decided to leave the body. The more people that cooperate with the committee, especially senior officials like Short, the more difficult it will be for Republicans to ignore the report's findings. This isn't going to be about what some Democrats claim happened on January 6 and what part Trump played.

Instead, the account of that day will be told by Republicans at the highest echelons of the Trump administration. For Republicans in Congress, this is significantly more politically challenging.

Notably, McConnell has recently adopted a new tone in front of the House committee. McConnell claimed the committee is looking for "something the public needs to know" in a December TV appearance.

Republican leaders staked a significant wager that they could portray the committee as nothing more than a splinter group of dissatisfied Democrats seeking to advance their partisan agenda by exploiting the events of January 6. As of today, that gamble appears to be a loser, with the committee prepared to offer a significantly more conclusive — and devastating — analysis of that terrible day than many had anticipated.