House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks during his weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol on February 27, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Mark Wilson | Getty Images
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday picked five House Republicans to serve on the select committee that will investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The California Republican named five out of the 13 members of the select House committee, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has the final say over which lawmakers McCarthy can appoint.
McCarthy’s picks include Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who will serve as the ranking member of the panel. The other members include Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Illinois., Rep. Kelley Armstrong, R-N.D. and freshman Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas.
The most well known of the five lawmakers is likely Jordan, who is a committed supporter of former President Donald Trump and is the founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers. In January, Jordan helped lead an unsuccessful effort to prevent the House of Representatives from impeaching Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection.
McCarthy’s picks come just a day before the committee is set to hold its first hearing, which will feature witnesses from the U.S. Capitol Police Department and Metropolitan Police Department.
It also comes more than six months after the violent insurrection in which supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol to disrupt the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
The five Republicans picked by McCarthy are not the only GOP members of the panel. Earlier this month, House Speaker Pelosi appointed Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. as one of her eight choices.
Cheney was one of the two GOP representatives who had voted to create the committee last month. She was also one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in January.
The decision to choose Cheney was notable, especially as McCarthy reportedly threatened to strip GOP representatives’ committee seats if they accepted an appointment to the panel from Pelosi, according to NBC news.
Pelosi also appointed Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who will lead the panel. The other members include Democratic Reps. Pete Aguilar, Adam Schiff, and Zoe Lofgren of California, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Elaine Luria of Virginia and Stephanie Murphy of Florida.
The formation of the panel has been a flashpoint of debate between Democrats and Republicans.
The select committee passed in a 222-190 party-line vote last month, after Senate Republicans blocked a previous bill that would have created an independent commission to investigate the insurrection.
Many GOP leaders asserted that the select committee would only duplicate existing efforts by the Justice Department and standing congressional committees to probe the attack on the Capitol.
Senate Republicans even blocked a previous bill that would have created an independent commission to investigate the insurrection.
The committee will investigate what caused the attack on the Capitol, which includes examining activities of law enforcement agencies and technological factors that may have prompted the event. It will also issue a report on its findings and how to prevent another attempt to disrupt the transfer of power.
