D.C. panel probing Jan. 6 riot selects Cheney as its No. 2
WASHINGTON — House Democrats leading the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a proTrump mob named Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., on Thursday as the committee’s vice chairwoman, elevating the role of a Republican who has been a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.
The announcement effectively makes Cheney the special committee’s second-ranking member, an unusual move for the majority party in the House, which typically grants that position to one of its own. But her appointment to the panel has been part of a break with convention from the start, given that Democrats nominated her and another Republican, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, in a bid to bring bipartisan credibility to an investigation that most other GOP lawmakers had denounced and worked to thwart.
“Rep. Cheney has demonstrated again and again her commitment to getting answers about Jan. 6, ensuring accountability, and doing whatever it takes to protect democracy for the American people,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the committee chairman, said in a statement announcing the move. “Her leadership and insights have shaped the early work of the select committee, and this appointment underscores the bipartisan nature of this effort.”
It comes as the special committee is ramping up its investigation into the violence that engulfed the Capitol as supporters of Trump stormed the building in his name, attacking police officers and delaying for hours the official counting of electoral votes to formalize President Joe Biden’s victory.
The committee sent record-preservation demands this week to 35 technology firms naming hundreds of people whose records they might want to review, including 11 of Trump’s most ardent allies in Congress, according to several people familiar with the documents who were not authorized to speak about its contents.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican leader, has threatened to retaliate against any company that complies with the request.
McCarthy led the charge to strip Cheney of her Republican leadership post over her continued denunciation of Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
This week, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., leader of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, circulated a letter calling on McCarthy to expel Cheney, a staunch conservative whose father served as vice president, and Kinzinger from the Republican conference.
“Congresswoman Cheney and Congressman Kinzinger are two spies for the Democrats that we currently invite to the meetings, despite our inability to trust them,” Biggs wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.
Biggs, who promoted false claims of widespread election rigging in the run-up to the Jan. 6 attack, is among the Republicans whose social media and phone records the select committee is seeking to preserve.
Separately, far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are planning to attend a rally later this month at the U.S. Capitol that is designed to demand “justice” for the hundreds of people who have been charged in connection with January’s insurrection, according to three people familiar with intelligence gathered by federal officials.
As a result, U.S. Capitol Police have been discussing in recent weeks whether the large perimeter fence that was erected outside the Capitol after January’s riot will need to be put back up, the people said.
The officials have been discussing security plans that involve reconstructing the fence, as well as another plan that does not involve a fence, the people said. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The planned Sept. 18 rally at the Capitol comes as a jittery Washington has seen a series of troubling one-off incidents — including, most recently, a man who parked a pickup near the Library of Congress and said he had a bomb and detonator.
Among the most concerning events: A series of unexploded pipe bombs placed around the U.S. Capitol ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection remain unexplained, and no suspect has been charged.