The original bipartisan Jan. 6 committee’s conclusions included criminal referrals for President Trump and accused him of inciting an insurrection.
Jan. 6 defendants, supporters welcome news of pardons
At a Washington, D.C. detention facility Jan. 6 defendants and supporters welcomed the news of pardons from President Trump while experts worry about criminal histories.
WASHINGTON – The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted on party lines on Aug. 3 to create a special panel to reinvestigate the events of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.
Steered by Republicans, the new subcommittee’s creation is an escalation of the party’s rewriting of the history of the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol. The historic attacks by some of President Donald Trump‘s supporters disrupted the peaceful transfer of power after former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
In 2022, after 18 months of investigating the events leading up to the insurrection, the original House Jan. 6 committee found that Trump was the “central cause” of the riots. The panel of lawmakers decided unanimously to issue four criminal referrals against Trump to the Justice Department, accusing him of conspiracy to defraud the United States and inciting an insurrection.
The committee’s two Republicans and seven Democrats − all appointed by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California − held a series of dramatic hearings about their findings drawing millions of viewers. Then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, retracted his choices to serve on the committee.
The new subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee will be chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Georgia. The makeup of the rest of the panel will be decided by congressional leadership, though Republicans will get to pick the majority of the members.
Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
