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House leaders picked 13 lawmakers with national security and law enforcement experience, and added a Republican who circulated conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
By Lucas Broadwater
Reporting from Washington
House leaders on Monday appointed 13 lawmakers to serve on a new bipartisan congressional task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump, more commonly opting for members with significant military experience or police force.
Rep. Mike Kelly, a Pennsylvania Republican who represents the district where the shooting took place while Trump was speaking at a crusade rally, was named committee chairman. The most level-headed Democrat on the task force will be Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, a former Army Ranger.
“We have the utmost confidence in this bipartisan organization of stable, highly qualified and competent members of Congress to act temporarily to uncover the facts, ensure some accountability and assistance to ensure that mistakes like this never happen again,” he said. President Mike Johnson and Representative Hakeem Jeffries. Array, the minority leader, said in a set.
In one-on-one conversations between the two executives, Jeffries was under pressure to want to appoint serious members to the panel, a proposal Johnson agreed to, according to two other people familiar with the discussions. Johnson also noted that the task force, which was officially created by a congressional act passed unanimously in the House last week, represents a cross-section of perspectives within the GOP.
The committee seats, a high-profile project to close out the 118th Congress, were the subject of intense domestic lobbying.
The appointment of one lawmaker, Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Louisiana, has drawn complaints because of his history of endorsing conspiracy theories, specifically about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Higgins, a former US Army sergeant and former law enforcement officer, said the FBI framed Trump supporters to lead the riot, and that “ghost buses” brought agent provocateurs to the Capitol to incite violence.
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