House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her picks for the select committee to investigate the deadly attack on the United States Capitol.
The Select Committee on the January 6th Insurrection will investigate and report upon the facts and causes of the terrorist mob attack on the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021. It will also be charged with reporting its findings, conclusions and recommendations for preventing future attacks. The Committee will be bipartisan, with thirteen members appointed by the Speaker, five of whom will be appointed after consultation with the Minority Leader.
“The next step for us has always been to seek and to find the truth. We want to do so in the most patriotic and nonpartisan way so the American people have confidence in the results,” Pelosi said during a press conference.
Pelosi chose Democratic Representatives Bennie Thompson, Elaine Luria, Jamie Raskin, Stephanie Murphy, Pete Aguilar, Adam Schiff, Zoe Lofgren, and Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney. Pelosi wanted a Republican on the committee to make the initiative bipartisan. Thompson will chair the panel.
“We will do our job. We will do it according to the oath we took as members of Congress. But most importantly we have to get to the bottom of finding out all the things that went wrong on January 6,” Thompson said during a press conference on Thursday.
“What happened on January 6 can never happen again. Those who are responsible for the attack need to be held accountable and this select committee will fulfill that responsibility in a professional, expeditious and nonpartisan manner,” Cheney said in a statement.
Cheney was removed from a leadership role after speaking out against former President Donald Trump’s role in the Jan 6 attacks.
According to CBS News, two sources said that McCarthy advised Republicans not to accept Pelosi’s appointment to the select committee or they’d risk losing their committee assignments. The House Minority Leader has not announced his choices yet, but Pelosi has the power to veto McCarthy’s appointments to the panel.
“I was shocked that she would accept something from Speaker Pelosi,” McCarthy said about Congresswoman Cheney. “Maybe she’s closer to her than us.”
Pelosi preferred to have an independent commission investigate the attacks but that commission was blocked by Senate Republlicans.
Capitol Police officers will testify about their experiences on January 6 when the committee holds their first hearing.
“It makes a positive statement to the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend not just members of Congress but the staff who works here as well as the citadel of democracy we work in every day as members of Congress,” Thompson said.