Pelosi Announces House Will Establish Select Committee to Investigate Insurrection

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the creation of a House select committee to investigate the deadly January 6th insurrection at the Capitol.

Pelosi said Thursday that the House was moving forward with an investigation after holding out hope that Senate Republicans, who blocked a bill that would have created a bipartisan independent 9/11-style commission weeks ago, would come around and support an investigation.

“Tomorrow will be four weeks since the commission failed in the Senate,” the speaker said at a news conference. Pelosi added that she asked if the bill would ever pass the Senate and said she was told, “Not soon. Not likely. Maybe someday.”

After expressing hope that a Senate investigation “could happen at some point,” she said it was time for the House to move.

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“This morning, with great solemnity and sadness, I’m announcing the House will be establishing a select committee on the January 6th insurrection,” Pelosi said.

The speaker explained that the investigation will focus on two key aspects of the insurrection. “There are two actual paths,” she said. “One is about the root causes of it — the white supremacy, the antisemitism, the Islamophobia, all the rest of it that was so evident… The other is the security of the Capitol and what it means to be ready for such an insurrection.”

Some Republicans deny that the attack, which left five dead and more than 100 Capitol and Metropolitan police officers injured, is anything worth investigating. One even suggested the rioters looked like tourists. So it very doubtful many will support a query that will be Democratic-controlled, especially after only 35 House Republicans supported a bipartisan commission.

“It is clear they are afraid of the truth,” Pelosi said.

The select committee will combine several investigations already underway. According to NPR, those include investigations by the FBI as well as investigations by congressional committees and government agencies, including the Capitol Police inspector general.

“January 6 was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history,” Pelosi said. “It is imperative that we establish the truth of that day and ensure that an attack of that kind cannot happen and that we root out the causes of it all.”

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