Democrats reportedly plan to have Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo,, deliver one of two opening statements at the first hearing of the Jan. 6 select committee.
The committee’s first hearing will take place on Tuesday, and will feature law enforcement officers who witnessed the insurrection, Harry Dunn and Aquilino Gonell of the Capitol Police, as well as Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges of the Capitol Police, The Hill reports.
The proposal to have Cheney speak came from Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who believed it would create a “strong visual” as the committee begins it work, the Washington Post reports.
Cheney will speak after the committee’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gives the first opening statement, the Post reports.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., another of the handful of Republican Trump critics in the House, is the only other Republican lawmaker on the committee.
“I will work diligently to ensure we get to the truth and hold those responsible for the attack fully accountable,” Kinzinger said in a statement.
Cheney and Kinzinger were the only Republicans to vote in favor of creating the select committee last month, The Hill noted.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rejected California GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy's selection of Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, both of whom are staunch allies of former President Donald Trump.
Banks said in a July 19 statement the committee ought to be investigating the political “riots” in the summer of 2020 as well.
“If Democrats were serious about investigating political violence, this committee would be studying not only the January 6 riot at the Capitol, but also the hundreds of violent political riots last summer when many more innocent Americans and law-enforcement officers were attacked,” he said.
Following Pelosi’s rejection of the two committee members, a fuming McCarthy announced he would yank all of his picks for the committee, leaving the GOP to be represented only by those Republicans who Pelosi picked herself.
Cheney said last week Tuesday's hearing is "going to be an opportunity for the country to hear from some of the very brave people who defended the Capitol on that day, to hear their experiences directly, to put some facts on the table" by having people hear directly from police officers who were on duty at the Capitol on Jan. 6, The Hill reported.
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