It has been announced that at least one Republican, Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), will be a member of Nancy Pelosi’s mostly-Democratic select committee on the January 6th protests, as reported by Politico.
The committee, led by Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), serves as the Democrats’ substitute for the failed effort to establish a formal commission earlier this year. After the bill to establish such a commission passed in the House with minimal Republican support, it was successfully filibustered in the Senate by the narrow Republican minority.
On Wednesday, the measure to establish a select committee was supported by only two Republicans in theHouse of Representatives: Cheney and Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), two of the most vocal Republican critics of President Donald Trump. Cheney, who until recently was the third-highest ranked Republican in the House, lost her position as Chair of the House Republican Conference after she repeatedly criticized President Trump even after he had left office, as well as for exaggerating the events of January 6th.
Shortly after Pelosi announced that Cheney would receive a spot on the committee, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was asked about Cheney’s role, which directly defied McCarthy’s orders for any Republican to be involved in a Democrat-run investigation of January 6th. He responded that he “was shocked that she would accept something from Speaker Pelosi,” noting that such a development might mean that Cheney is closer to the Democratic Speaker “than us.”
Cheney defended her role on the committee, claiming that “my oath and my duty is above partisanship, and I expect Leader McCarthy to have the same view.”
Although there are already multiple ongoing investigations into January 6th, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) claimed that this latest one would focus “solely on this matter and compiling the comprehensive and authoritative report.”
On January 6th, a group of mostly peaceful pro-Trump protesters entered the United States Capitol out of protest of widespread voter fraud that took place in the 2020 presidential election, which may have been enough to swing the results away from President Trump and in favor of Democrat Joe Biden. There was only a single person killed as a result of the protests, when Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by a plainclothes Capitol Police officer, whose identity still remains unknown to this day despite having been captured on film committing the murder.
Despite the overall peaceful nature of the demonstration, Democrats and the mainstream media have repeatedly and falsely labeled the events as “violent” and an “insurrection,” and many of the protesters have been held in solitary confinement in D.C. jails for months without proper legal representation.