House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday she was appointing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., to the new select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Pelosi, D-Calif., said the chairman of the committee will be Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Other members named so far include Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Adam Schiff and Pete Aguilar, all D-Calif.; Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla.; Jamie Raskin, D-Md.; and Elaine Luria, D-Va.
Cheney’s appointment comes weeks after she was removed from House Republican leadership in the wake of her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump and a day after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., warned Republicans not to accept an appointment to the select committee from Pelosi.
Cheney and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois were the only two Republican members to vote in favor of the committee’s formation Wednesday. The House vote was 222-190.
"Our nation and the families of the brave law enforcement officers who were injured defending us or died following the attack deserve answers," Cheney said after the vote. "I believe this select committee is our only remaining option."
McCarthy later issued a blanket threat during a meeting with freshmen members of his caucus that he would strip any GOP member of their committee assignments if they accepted an offer from Pelosi to serve on the select committee.
The warning underscores party leaders’ opposition to the new committee and their desire to shape the narrative about it as much as they can. Republicans have complained that the panel will be dominated by Democrats and thus produce a partisan report — even though the GOP previously scuttled an earlier Democratic attempt to form a bipartisan commission.
Reacting to the news of McCarthy’s threat, Kinzinger told reporters, "Who gives a [expletive]?"
"When you've got people that say crazy stuff ... you've lost, you know, any credibility," he said.
Kinzinger said Wednesday that if he was asked to serve on the committee, he would consider it.
"It's not necessarily anything I look forward to doing, but if I thought my voice was needed to get to the bottom of it, it would be something I would be open to," he told a local TV station.
Under the House's resolution creating the commission, Pelosi appoints eight members to the panel, and McCarthy has five slots "in consultation" with Pelosi — meaning the speaker could veto his selections.
The House moved forward with a select committee after Republicans blocked the formation a bipartisan, 9/11-style commission to investigate the Capitol riot.
The attack resulted in five deaths and dozens of injuries and was the worst assault on the Capitol since the British attacked it during the War of 1812.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
First Published: July 1, 2021, 3:37 p.m.
