Pelosi roils Republicans; names Liz Cheney to U.S. panel probing Jan. 6
attack
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[July 02, 2021]
By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Some of former
President Donald Trump's most prominent critics, including Republican
Representative Liz Cheney and the Democrats who led the two impeachments
against him, were named on Thursday to serve on a special congressional
panel probing the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced eight members of
the committee investigating the events leading up to and on Jan. 6, when
Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop Democrat Joe
Biden from being certified the winner of last November's presidential
election against Republican Trump.
Five people died as a result of the violence, including a Capitol Police
officer. Other law enforcement officers suffered severe injuries as they
battled the angry mob.
Just before the attack, Trump delivered fiery remarks at the White House
and then encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill.
Accepting the assignment, Cheney said she considered her duty to the
U.S. Constitution to be above politics.
"We have an obligation to have a thorough, sober investigation of what
happened leading up to January 6, and the attack on the Capitol on that
day," she told reporters after attending a first meeting with the other
seven committee members, all Democrats, in Pelosi's office.
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Addressing reports that House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy
threatened to strip any Republican member of their regular committee
assignments if they accepted an offer from Pelosi, Cheney said she had
not been told this.
McCarthy denied issuing such threats, but said Cheney's fellow
Republicans would make decisions about committee memberships.
"I was shocked that she would accept something from Speaker Pelosi," he
said. He did not say whether he will name any of the members to the
remaining five seats on the panel.
Cheney was removed from her House Republican leadership position in May
after voting in January to impeach Trump and continuing to repudiate his
false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him by
massive voter fraud.
"A BLACK EYE ON OUR DEMOCRACY'
Chairing the panel is Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, who
also heads the House Homeland Security Committee that has been looking
into the Jan. 6 events.
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![](../images/070221pics/news_n25.jpg)
U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the Select
Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol,
is joined by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), Rep.
Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) as he speaks to
reporters after the committee met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA) at the Capitol in Washington, U.S. July 1, 2021.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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He sidestepped a question about whether the panel might call Trump
or other former administration officials to testify. The committee
will have the power to subpoena witnesses.
Thompson said the committee would look at unanswered questions and
systems that had failed. "January 6 was a devastating black eye on
our democracy, and we have to make sure that it never happens
again," he said.
He said the panel hoped to start with a hearing at which Capitol
Police officers would testify.
Other members of the new panel include Representative Adam Schiff,
who took the lead in the December 2019 impeachment of Trump on
charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and
Representative Jamie Raskin, the lead prosecutor in last January's
second impeachment of Trump on a charge of inciting an insurrection.
In both cases, the Senate did not convict Trump.
On Wednesday the House voted to establish the special committee
after Senate Republicans blocked the creation of an independent
commission Pelosi originally sought.
Republican leaders have resisted any special panel to investigate
the Jan. 6 riot, noting existing congressional committees have been
doing their own probes and that separately more than 500 people
already have been charged with crimes.
A new, high-profile congressional investigation likely would keep
questions alive on Trump's activities on that day and possibly
complicate Republicans' efforts to win majority control of the House
in the 2022 congressional elections.
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(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Lisa Lambert David Morgan and Susan
Cornwell; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Jonathan Oatis and Paul Simao)
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