On Thursday (July 1), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Rep. Bennie Thompson would lead a special commission on the January 6 Capitol attack. Thompson, the lone Democrat representing Mississippi, also serves as the House Homeland Security Chairman.
Thompson thanked Pelosi for her “steadfast commitment to getting to the truth behind the January 6 domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol.”
“We’ll do our job,” Thompson said of the select committee. “We have to get to the bottom of finding out all of the things that went wrong on January 6,” he added, later calling out Republicans who refused to budge on forming the bipartisan panel to investigate the attack.
“They had an opportunity to really engage,” Thompson said during a news conference, addressing Republican lawmakers. “And they didn’t. So they can’t come now come back and say, ‘Oh that’s not fair.”
Liz Cheney, who was just one of two Republicans who voted in favor of forming the special commission, was also tapped by Pelosi to serve. “We are very honored and proud she has agreed to serve on the committee,” Pelosi said during the news conference.
“Congress is obligated to conduct a full investigation of the most serious attack on our Capitol since 1814,” Cheney said in a written statement. “That day saw the most sacred space in our Republic overrun by an angry and violent mob attempting to stop the counting of electoral votes and threatening the peaceful transfer of power,” she added.
Cheney was removed from GOP leadership earlier this year after voting to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection.
Democratic Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Adams Schiff, Pete Aguilar, Stephanie Murphy, Jamie Raskin, and Elaine Luria are also members of the committee.
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