Pelosi Appoints Liz Cheney to Serve on Jan. 6 Select Committee

Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, speaks to the media at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 12, 2021. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was named by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday to serve on the select committee investigating events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

“Congresswoman Liz Cheney, of the Armed Services Committee, has patriotically agreed to serve on the committee,“ said Pelosi on Thursday at a press briefing about the formation of the select committee. ”We’re very honored and proud that she has agreed to serve on the committee.”

Cheney accepted the assignment, calling it an honor.

“I’m honored to have been named to serve on the January 6th select committee. Congress is obligated to conduct a full investigation of the most serious attack on our Capitol since 1814,” said Cheney in a press statement. “Our oath to the Constitution, our commitment to the rule of law, and the preservation of the peaceful transfer of power must always be above partisan politics.”

“That gives us great confidence that we will be able to work in a nonpartisan way for the people,” Pelosi said.

The Democrat-controlled House voted in favor of forming the select panel on Wednesday despite Republicans saying it is not necessary because investigations are already underway in other committees of jurisdiction. Cheney, a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, will be the only Republican on the eight-member panel.

Republicans opposed the independent bipartisan Jan. 6 commission, saying the scope of the panel was too narrow and should include all domestic terrorist activity from the last year, including Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioting, looting, and arson across the country.

Cheney was one of 10 Republicans who concluded along with Democrats that Trump was responsible for the breach on the U.S. Capitol and should be impeached, even though at the time of the vote he was no longer in office. She also voted in favor of forming the independent commission similar to the one formed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Cheney’s continued vocal opposition to Trump led to her being censured by her state’s GOP party and being replaced as House Republican Conference Chair by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).

Shortly after Pelosi’s announcement that she has asked Cheney to serve on the select committee, House Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) responded.

“I was shocked that she would accept something from Speaker Pelosi. It would seem to me, since I didn’t hear from her, maybe she’s closer to her than to us,” McCarthy told reporters on July 1.

McCarthy added that it is unorthodox for a Republican to get a committee assignment from the Democrat leader and vice versa. He was not threatening Cheney that she would lose her committee assignments.

“I have always found [that] how the system works here, Republican conference appoints Republicans and Democrats appoint Democrats. That’s why you have ratios,” McCarthy added.

The Select Committee will investigate and report upon the facts and causes of Jan. 6, said Pelosi. Besides Cheney, the panel includes Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), and Elaine Luria (D-Va.).