WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy will name five members of his party, including staunch Trump ally Jim Jordan, to serve on a special congressional panel probing the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, a Republican aide said on Monday.
McCarthy will also name Representatives Jim Banks, Rodney Davis, Kelly Armstrong and Troy Nehls to the committee, the Republican aide said, asking not to be named.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this month announced eight members of the committee, including one Republican, Representative Liz Cheney, who has been one of the most prominent critics of Republican former President Donald Trump.
McCarthy said at the time he was shocked that Cheney would accept Pelosi’s invitation to be on the committee.
The special congressional panel was created to investigate 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 Trump.
Republican leaders resisted any special panel to investigate the deadly Capitol assault, noting existing congressional committees had been doing their own probes and that more than 500 people had already been charged with crimes.
Some Republicans have downplayed the attack, with Representative Andrew Clyde comparing it to a visit by tourists.
Four people died on the day of the violence, one shot dead by police and the other three of natural causes. A Capitol Police officer who had been attacked by protesters died the following day. Two police officers who took part in the defense of the Capitol later took their own lives. More than a hundred police officers were injured.
Just before the attack, Trump delivered fiery remarks at the White House and then encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill.
Jordan is a member of the conservative group of lawmakers known as the House Freedom Caucus. Banks chairs the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative grouping in the House.
Davis is the senior Republican on the House Administration Committee, while Armstrong served on the House Judiciary Committee during the first Trump impeachment. Nehls is a freshman representative.
It is up to Pelosi whether she will accept McCarthy’s recommendations on Republican members.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Peter Cooney)
