Arch-conservative lawmakers are calling for investigations into the House January 6 Committee and the lawmakers who served on the panel, following the release of security footage that captured the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Troy Nehls, Texas Republican, and Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, have called for an investigation into current and former lawmakers who served on the now-defunct committee and claimed that the panel was a “sham.”
“The J6 committee was a sham,” Mr. Nehls said on X. “I knew it then. Everyone knows it now. Let’s investigate the investigators.”
The calls for an investigation come after Speaker Mike Johnson announced the planned release of more than 40,000 hours of footage over the next several months.
So far, the House Administration Committee has released a first round of about 90 hours of footage on the panel’s website.
“This decision will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials,” said Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican.
Mr. Lee accused former GOP lawmakers and committee members Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger of deliberately hiding footage from the incident in a post on X.
“Why didn’t Liz Cheney and Adam Kizinger ever refer to any of these tapes? Maybe they never looked for them,” Mr. Lee said. “Maybe they never even questioned their own narrative. Maybe they were just too busy selectively leaking the text messages of Republicans they wanted to defeat.”
Mr. Lee continued, “Given the evidence they apparently suppressed, how much footage (and how many other records) do you think Nancy Pelosi and the J6 committee deliberately lost or destroyed?”
More footage will be released in the months to come, but not all of the tapes from the attack on the Capitol will be unveiled to the public. About 5% of the footage will be withheld because it may “involve sensitive security information related to the building architecture,” Mr. Johnson said.
The Department of Justice has charged almost 1,200 people with federal crimes in the aftermath of the attacks on the U.S. Capitol. Over 800 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial, and about 700 people involved in the riot have been sentenced, with about two-thirds receiving prison terms ranging from three days to 22 years.
Jacob Chansley, one of the people who received jail time for their involvement in the insurrection, is eyeing a run for the seat of retiring Rep. Debbie Lesko, Arizona Republican.
