Cheney Joins Jan 6 Select Committee In Face Of McCarthy Threat To Punish GOP Participants

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Thursday announced that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) will serve as a member of the select committee tasked with investigating the deadly Capitol insurrection that then-President Trump helped incite.

“We are very honored and proud she has agreed to serve on the committee,” Pelosi said during a press conference on Thursday.

The select committee will be chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who will have unilateral subpoena power.

Other members of the select committee include Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Elaine Lurie (D-VA).

In a statement issued shortly after Pelosi’s announcement, Cheney said she is “honored” to serve on the select committee.

Cheney reiterated her belief that Congress is “obligated to conduct a full investigation” of the breaching of the Capitol on Jan. 6 by an “angry and violent mob” that attempted to overturn the election results.

“What happened on January 6th can never happen again,” Cheney said. “Those who are responsible for the attack need to be held accountable and this select committee will fulfill that responsibility in a professional, expeditious, and non-partisan manner.”

Pelosi’s announcement of the select committee members comes a day after the House passed legislation in a near party-line vote to set up the panel. Reps. Cheney and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), both of whom are vocal critics of Trump and voted to impeach him for “incitement of insurrection,” were the only Republicans who voted to approve the measure.

Following the House vote, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) reportedly threatened during a meeting with freshmen members of his caucus that he would revoke committee assignments from any Republican member if they accepted an offer from Pelosi to join the select committee.

Cheney, who currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee, was ousted as the No. 3 Republican earlier this year after she vehemently refused to do Trump’s bidding of pushing the big lie of a stolen election.

The resolution for the select committee indicated that Pelosi will appoint all 13 members, though she’ll consult with McCarthy on five of them. A senior Democratic aide confirmed to TPM that Pelosi can reject any of McCarthy’s selections.

McCarthy has not signaled whether he will appoint Republicans to the select committee.

The formation of the select committee comes more than a month after Senate Republicans deployed the filibuster to kill legislation that would have established an independent, bipartisan commission to probe the Capitol insurrection.