Subpoenas, Calling Trump, Members of Congress All on the Table for Jan 6 Committee
Panel will "follow the facts," says one high-ranking House Democrat
The House Select Committee On The January 6 Attack formally got underway this week, with the panel of Democrats and two rogue Republicans hearing testimony Tuesday from four police officers who were on the front lines that day as armed domestic terrorists overwhelmed the US Capitol Building.
However, as members of the panel made clear, the committee intends to seek answers to many tough questions surrounding what was the worst insurrection on US soil since the Civil War.
And the committee will be willing to go to lengths to get those answers, according to lawmakers on and off the panel.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created the select committee to investigate the events surrounding the January 6 attack, after Senate Republicans blocked the formation of a bipartisan commission to study the insurrection, in which hundreds of domestic terrorists backing Donald Trump forced their way into the Capitol in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to thwart the legal and legitimate certification of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States. The violent Trump extremists were driven to try to install Trump for an illegal second term in the White House.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) withdrew his selection of Republicans to sit on the select committee after a disagreement with Pelosi over some of those picks.
That left two well-known Republicans who are Trump critics — Reps Liz Cheney of Wyoming, and Adam Kinzinger, of Illinois — to serve on the panel, and to do so without the blessing of McCarthy.
Speaking with a reporter Wednesday, Cheney offered one glimpse into what she said would be the select committee's near future.
“I think the speaker has been very clear and the chairman that we're gonna issue subpoenas quickly,” Cheney said.
Meanwhile, Rep. James Clyburn, of South Carolina, third-ranking Democrat in the House leadership, is not a member of the select committee, but he was a bit more expansive in its future — including calling either other members of Congress, or even Trump himself, as potential witnesses.
“Well, I think it all depends on exactly what takes place in these hearings. That’s why you have the hearings, to find the truth, to follow the facts. If the facts lead to other members of Congress that’s where you should go. If it leads to the former president, that’s where you should go,” Clyburn said. “So I don’t want to presuppose anything. I would hope that the foundation that was laid on yesterday will be built upon, because this country is worth saving.
“It came very close to a collapse on January 6, and we have got to do what is necessary to keep moving toward a more perfect union. It is now under threat. This committee is going to be the committee that determines whether or not that pursuit continues,” he added.
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