House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has selected five Republicans he wants on the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
His picks are Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), and Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas). Banks, chair of the Republican Study Committee, is the ranking member. Davis serves on the House Administration Committee, Jordan is the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Armstrong was a lawyer before coming to Congress, and Nehls is a former sheriff. Banks, Jordan, and Nehls all voted in favor of challenging the certification of President Biden's victory.
The committee will be led by Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has veto power over McCarthy's picks. The panel already has one GOP member: Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), whose vocal criticism of former President Donald Trump and his role in the Capitol attack led to her removal as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference. The other members are Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), and Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.)
The first hearing will be held in a few days, with witnesses including Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers. Pelosi has said the goal of the committee "has always been to seek and find the truth" about the Jan. 6 attack and how it came to be.