House Republicans voted on Wednesday to authorize a select subcommittee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and potentially the previous Democratic-run Jan. 6 committee, a move that came more than seven months after the panel was first announced.
The subcommittee will be part of the House Judiciary Committee and will be chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who in previous Congresses investigated the Capitol security posture and the activities of the previous Democratic-led committee, which was established after supporters of President Trump stormed the building in support of his 2020 stolen election claims.
Language to authorize a resolution creating the select subcommittee was tucked into a procedural rule vote teeing up consideration of other measures, rather than as a stand-alone bill. Rule votes typically pass along party lines. The rule on Wednesday that included the Jan. 6 subcommittee passed along party lines 212-208, with Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) voting “present.”
“I’m grateful for Speaker Johnson and my Republican colleagues for entrusting me to continue this important investigation into the events surrounding January 6, 2021,” Loudermilk said. “While my previous investigation did an incredible job last Congress, there is still much work to be done. Our goal is to answer the remaining questions, uncover all the facts, and implement reforms so this level of security failure never happens again. It’s time to finish the job.”
The panel will have eight members, three of whom will be appointed by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) subject to the Speaker’s approval and five of whom will be appointed by the Speaker. It is instructed to release a final report by Dec. 31, 2026.
Loudermilk will have full subpoena authority.
Despite being announced in January after Trump’s inauguration, authorization of the panel was long delayed after Republican leaders directed their energy toward other legislative priorities and due to disputes with Loudermilk about how much jurisdiction the panel would have to investigate various Jan. 6-related matters.
But Loudermilk got direct support from Trump as he pushed for the panel, and the jurisdictional disputes were resolved. Leadership revealed a resolution to create the panel in July.
The panel has the Judiciary Committee’s broad scope over law enforcement and more when investigating matters related to Jan. 6 — and a source told The Hill that Loudermilk has commitment from chairmen from other areas of jurisdiction and the White House to green-light probes into any other lines of inquiry. That could include more investigation of the original Democratic-controlled Jan. 6 panel.
The Democrats’ previous Jan. 6 panel and its members, which included now-Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), received preemptive pardons from former President Biden on his last day in office amid threats of prosecution.
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who also sat on the original Jan. 6 Committee, has previously called the effort a way to distract from the uproar in the GOP over lack of disclosures from the Trump administration relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Loudermilk and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) both have some personal beef with the original Jan. 6 committee. Jordan refused to comply with a subpoena it issued him, arguing it was not a legitimate inquiry. And the panel asked Loudermilk to appear voluntarily to explain a tour he gave in the Capitol complex on Jan. 5, 2021 — a request he said was meant to push a “false narrative.”
Loudermilk’s previous panel released an “interim report” in December 2024 that recommended a criminal investigation into Cheney, accusing her of witness tampering by being in touch with star hearing witness Cassidy Hutchinson.
