Last weekend it was reported that Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chairman of the Select Committee to investigate the Capitol riot from January 6, was eyeing a July 21 or 22 for their first hearing. On Wednesday it was announced that the official date will be July 27. And, just as Chairman Thompson warned then, the hearing will go on whether or not House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has chosen five Republican members for the committee, with such members being subject to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's veto power.
This first hearing, as was previewed by Thompson last week, will feature testimony from police officers at the scene on January 6.
Speaker Pelosi has chosen eight of the 13 members for the select committees, with one of her picks including Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). The Republican and recently ousted Chair of the GOP House Conference is a known critic of former President Donald Trump and has frequently spoken out against him since the January 6 riot.
While legislation to hold a commission on the events from January 6 received bipartisan support in the House and the Senate, it did not have enough votes to pass, due to a filibuster from Republicans.
The speaker announced last month that there would be a select committee. Reps. Cheney and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), another vocal Trump critic, were the only two Republicans to vote in favor of this select committee.
Rep. Cheney, whom the left has recently aligned themselves with, and whom Trump called the "most quoted Republican in the history of our country by Democrats," recently gave an interview to CNN about the select committee.
According to CNN's Melanie Zanona and Alex Rogers:
"It's very important that we have members who are committed to upholding the rule of law and members who are committed to their oaths to the Constitution," Cheney said to CNN in her first interview since becoming the only Republican named to the select panel by Democrats. "And I would certainly hope that the minority leader will be guided by that as he makes his choices."
While Cheney didn't name names, that characterization of who she thinks is unqualified could apply to a wide swath of her Donald Trump-hugging colleagues in the House GOP -- some of whom are in the mix to serve as one of McCarthy's five picks for the congressional investigation into the Capitol riots. Only nine House Republicans joined Cheney in voting to impeach Trump for inciting the January 6 siege, while 139 House Republicans voted to challenge the certification of Trump's 2020 loss.
Of course, McCarthy is unlikely to put much stock in the advice of his former deputy, after he pushed to have her booted from GOP leadership earlier this year for her repeated rebukes of the former President. Now the pair has an icy relationship and are barely on speaking terms. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's veto power over McCarthy's picks will hold more sway.
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The reporting all included commentary about Rep. Cheney and others already selected for the select committee:
"Liz Cheney is a magnificent asset to the committee because of her knowledge of national security and her commitment to the constitutional process," said Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, one of the seven House Democrats named to the select panel. "She is not a partisan actor in any way, she really is a member of Congress searching for the truth of the events of January 6 and the causes behind them."
Added Raskin: "It will be up to history to decide whether Liz Cheney is vindicated for her defense of our Constitution. ... I'm betting on history siding with Liz Cheney."
Mike Lillis, in his reporting for The Hill, noted that "Democrats have not announced which officers will appear before the select committee on July 27."
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