Wyoming’s lone delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives has been appointed to serve on a new committee investigating the Capitol attack of Jan. 6, 2021.
Rep. Harriet Hageman, a Republican, took care in a Wednesday interview to differentiate her role on the new committee from the J6 investigation in which her predecessor, former Rep. Liz Cheney, participated in 2021 and 2022.
Firstly, said Hageman, this year’s committee seeks to probe and remedy security failures that may have exacerbated the Capitol breach as lawmakers sought to certify the results of the 2020 election.
Secondly, Hageman said Cheney’s panel was not a “legitimate committee” under the House rules.
This conflicts with the 2022 ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly, of Washington, D.C., who said the committee was “properly authorized.”
The Republican National Committee appealed Kelly’s ruling, but the case was dismissed as moot in September 2022 when the committee changed course, opting not to pursue the subpoena that prompted the court challenge.
Broadly, Now
Hageman said she views the new select committee’s mission in broad terms for now, having not gone through the evidence.
“I think it’s important we understand what happened on Jan. 6, primarily focusing on the security failures, so we can ensure something like this doesn’t happen again,” said Hageman.
She said she doesn’t have pre-judgments or special missions in mind, and she declined to revive critiques of Cheney’s work on the 2021 panel.
Hageman referenced as an example, however, video she’s seen of Capitol staffers “escorting people through the Capitol at the same time there was a lot of stuff going on.”
Another example worth investigating, she said, is the still-unsolved mystery of why there were two bombs placed outside the Democratic and Republican national headquarters the day before the riots.
The Democratic-led panel of 2021-2022 had a very different angle.
It concluded that President Donald Trump actively inspired his supporters to commit violence as he tried to remain in office despite losing the 2020 election. It suggested a Congressional ban on Trump running for office again.
The Lineup
Along with Hageman, House Speaker Mike Johnson selected Republican Reps. Morgan Griffith (Virginia), Troy Nehls (Texas), and Clay Higgins (Louisiana) to serve on the panel, led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Georgia.
Hageman said she believes being on this committee is within her “bailiwick” because of her experience as a trial attorney.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries selected, and Johnson approved, Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell (California), Jasmine Crockett (Texas), and Jared Moskowitz (Florida).
House Democrats have called the new committee, which is a reiteration of Loudermilk’s earlier J6 panel, a distraction.
The chair of Cheney’s panel, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Mississippi, rejected the idea that the 2022 findings contained errors or that there are hidden truths about the attack on the Capitol, the Washington Post reported.
“No,” said Thompson. “I stand by the work of the committee.”
Judge’s Ruling
Delving “into the thicket” of a Republican National Committee court challenge calling the 2021 select committee illegitimate, Kelly concluded that the committee was “properly authorized.”
The resolution governing that committee’s formation dictated that it should have 13 members. It only had nine. It contained none of the five Republican members then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy nominated to it — a fallout caused by House infighting and President Donald Trump’s opposition to the committee’s formation.
The committee’s formation was a “mess,” Kelly acknowledged.
But then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, had consulted with McCarthy, as the resolution required; and Cheney could serve as the minority party’s “ranking member,” a required function, added the judge.
When addressing Congressional committees’ investigative powers, courts seek to be “deferential,” Kelly wrote.
What A Blowout
Trump-endorsed Hageman defeated Cheney resoundingly in the 2022 Republican primary election.
The Associated Press called the race early that evening with 21% of the vote counted, as Hageman held a lead with 60.6% of the vote followed by Cheney at 35.1% at that phase.
The Wyoming Republican Party had censured Cheney in February 2021.
That November 2021, the party passed another resolution to no longer recognize the longtime Wyoming delegate as a Republican.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
