The GOP-led House Administration’s new subcommittee on oversight was set to open an investigation into the former House Select January 6 Committee on Thursday.
The January 6 Committee, which was comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans, released its final report into its 18-month probe into the January 6, 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol just before Christmas last year. In its final televised hearing, the committee asserted that former President Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 Presidential election and failed to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.
On Thursday the subcommittee on oversight will reportedly review whether the January 6 Committee had omitted pertinent information about the deadly insurrection during its high-profile investigation.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) has been tapped to lead the subcommittee. He’s a Trump ally whom the January 6 Committee had accused of giving a tour at the Capitol on the day before the riot.
Loudermilk had initially denied he’d given any tour on January 5. Then, when video evidence was released, he denied any wrongdoing.
The January 6 Committee members were “only interested in creating a narrative for you guys,” Loudermilk told reporters in June. “There’s nothing there.”
The subcommittee is expected to focus on the security failures around January 6 and will work to get U.S. Capitol Police officers more training and resources, and on other possible reforms, a House staffer told NBC News.
Former chair of the January 6 Committee Rep. Bennie Thompson (R-MS) defended the panel’s work in a statement Wednesday. “January 6 was one of the darkest days in our democracy and necessitated a full and complete investigation—we did not leave anything on the table,” he said.
The January 6 Committee’s 845-page final report was based on more than 1,000 interviews, extensive videos and millions of documents.
The subcommittee’s investigation follows the airing of January 6 video by Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday that was given to him exclusively by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). On Tuesday, numerous Senate Republicans—including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)—blasted Carlson, accusing him of cherry-picking video to show a twisted narrative of the violence that had taken place.
“It was a mistake, in my view, for Fox News to depict this in a way that’s completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here in the Capitol thinks,” McConnell told reporters.
So far, prosecutors have brought criminal charges against more than 1,000 people following the January 6 assault.
Four people died during the violence on January 6, and five police officers died afterwards. Another 140 or so officers were injured, and the Capitol sustained millions of dollars in damage.
In November Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed veteran career prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel to determine, among his duties, whether criminal charges should be filed against former President Trump for his role in January 6.
