Democrats Pick Their Top Member for Republican-Led Jan. 6 Committee

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that Rep. Eric Swalwell has been picked to serve as the top Democrat on the new, Republican-led select subcommittee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Against this backdrop, House Democrats are fighting back,” Jeffries said in a press release. “As the proud son of a cop, highly accomplished former prosecutor and skilled legislator experienced in holding powerful Washington politicians accountable, Rep. Swalwell will relentlessly ensure that the American people never forget who was responsible for the events of January 6th.”

Jeffries also announced the addition of Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Jasmine Crockett to the subcommittee, along with Rep. Jamie Raskin as an ex officio member.

The positions, however, are subject to final approval from House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has not confirmed that he will allow Democrats’ picks to be seated for the subcommittee.

“We let him know our choices for this subcommittee, and there’s zero precedent for anyone from the other party determining who’s going to sit on a subcommittee if, in fact, they want to take that subcommittee seriously,” Jeffries said during a press conference Monday.

When asked whether Democrats would still participate on the panel if Johnson denies his picks, Jeffries responded: “We’re not going to deal in the realm of hypotheticals. But what’s interesting is that Republicans have brought this situation on themselves.”

The new committee will be led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who previously told reporters the group’s goal was to create a report that differed from the previous, Democratic-led Jan. 6 panel’s summary.

“The evidence is irrefutable that there was more politics than there was truth in that,” Loudermilk said of the previous panel’s findings. “What we saw in the initial investigation, there was a lot more politics involved in decision-making than there ever should’ve been.”

The subcommittee’s findings are due by the end of 2026. It’s the second panel convened by Congress to investigate the events of that day.

In 2022, a Democratic-led select committee was formed to investigate the attack on the Capitol, and after 18 months it found that Trump bore much of the responsibility for the attempted insurrection.

Raskin, who served on the previous committee, issued a statement after the formation of the new committee, arguing a repeated investigation was unnecessary.

“I’m not sure why House Republicans keep picking the scab of their massive self-inflicted political wound and abject surrender to Donald Trump,” Raskin said.

Raskin added that the newly formed committee would allow lawmakers to “examine the constantly growing criminal records of all the hundreds of violent felons, cop-beaters and white nationalists who Donald Trump pardoned and released onto our streets on his first day in office.”