Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Wednesday that House Republicans would establish a new select subcommittee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and counter “false narratives” about it, continuing the party’s efforts to rewrite the history of the riot.
Mr. Johnson’s announcement came just two days after President Trump pardoned those charged in connection with the assault. It suggested that Republicans planned to use their power over the government to continue promoting their own sanitized version of what had happened when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, disrupting the certification of the 2020 election.
Mr. Johnson said the panel, which would be part of the Judiciary Committee, would continue “exposing the false narratives peddled by” the previous select committee that had investigated the riot and what led to it. He called that committee, which had placed blame for the assault squarely on Mr. Trump and his effort to overturn the 2020 election, “politically motivated.”
“We are establishing this select subcommittee to continue our efforts to uncover the full truth that is owed to the American people,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement.
The move marks the latest step for Republicans in trying to recast the events of Jan. 6. On Monday, Mr. Trump issued nearly 1,600 pardons and 14 commutations of sentences for rioters, including those convicted of assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy against the United States. He has referred to Jan. 6 as “a day of love” and the rioters as “political prisoners,” “hostages” and “great patriots.”
And on Wednesday, one of those whose sentence was commuted, Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia who was released from prison on Monday, was spotted at a Dunkin’ Donuts inside the Capitol complex. Mr. Rhodes had been sentenced on charges of sedition stemming from the Capitol attack.
The new panel is to be led by Representative Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, who chaired a similar panel during the last Congress. As part of that panel’s work, he released a video compilation that sought to shift blame for the Jan. 6 assault away from Mr. Trump and onto former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was pursued that day by a violent mob of Trump supporters.
Representative Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, teased on Tuesday that she would be the first member of Congress to offer guided tours of the Capitol to the recently pardoned and released rioters.
In the aftermath of the 2021 attack, some Democrats accused Ms. Boebert and Mr. Loudermilk of having given Capitol tours to rioters in the days leading up to Jan. 6. Both denied the allegations.
The Capitol Police said in 2022 that Mr. Loudermilk’s tour, which was later scrutinized by the House committee that investigated the attack, appeared to have been an innocuous meeting with constituents.
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