Democrats are still finalizing their plans for the probe, while GOP leaders are boycotting it altogether – and threatening to retaliate with countermeasures.
WASHINGTON — The House select committee envisioned to be the ultimate arbiter of what led President Donald Trump’s supporters to invade the U.S. Capitol in January is scheduled to begin its work this week under a cloud of controversy that threatens to compromise the investigation from the outset. Republican leaders, who declared a boycott after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., last week rejected two of their picks for the panel, have signaled to the GOP’s rank and file that there could be consequences for anyone who participates. As of Sunday, two have agreed to do so anyway, and Pelosi has hinted that there could be others. It’s unclear when a roster may be finalized, and Democrats running the committee have yet to articulate specific plans or timelines for their investigation. Nevertheless, on Tuesday, four police officers – two from the Capitol’s protection squad and two from D.C. police – are set to provide the first public testimony before the select committee. They are expected to testify about their experiences of both physical and verbal abuse on Jan.6, as they tried to protect the Capitol from a swelling horde of demonstrators determined to stop Congress’s efforts to certify the 2020 electoral college results and declare Joe Biden the next president. Their stories will be familiar to those who have followed the riot’s fallout via related congressional investigations, ongoing federal court cases and Trump’s second impeachment trial. All four have given interviews about their experience. Some were even involved in lobbying members of Congress to create an independent commission to examine the attack – an effort that failed this spring, when the Senate fell shy of a filibuster-proof majority needed to impanel what was supposed to be bipartisan group of outside experts. Members of the select committee say the officers’ stories, though already documented, are a necessary prologue. Police personnel provide the “moral center of gravity of the whole investigation,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said in an interview last week. He is one of seven Democrats chosen for the select committee. Another panel member, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in an interview that the officers’ testimony was “a really important perspective to begin with… to put to rest this fictional revisionist history,” a reference to efforts by Trump and other Republicans to characterize the Capitol riot as a “normal tourist visit” from a “loving crowd.” Authorities have estimated that about 10,000 people descended on the Capitol campus and that about 800 broke inside. To date, about 550 have been charged with crimes; more than 165 individuals are accused of assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
