Pelosi to announce this week whether she will launch a Capitol Hill riot select committee

(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

By Brian Brant

(WASHINGTON) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will announce whether she will create a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot this week, after Senate Republicans blocked an independent commission from advancing, Politico reports.

Though initial reports suggested Pelosi had formally announced the committee's creation, her office later clarified there was no formal decision at that time despite Pelosi proposing the committee in a closed-door meeting. 

Pelosi did not detail exactly when she would formally announce her plans bypassing a GOP blockade of an independent 9/11 style commission late last month.

In the aftermath of that vote, she had floated other options including having the Senate vote a second time, allowing existing congressional committees to continue their separate investigation, asking a committee take over or creating a select committee in the House. 

The House Homeland Security Committee has also led its own investigation into the riot.

Politico reports if Pelosi merges their investigations into a single body, such a decision could be viewed as partisan like House Republicans' select committee to investigate the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. 

Some House Democrats have also worried a Democratic-led investigation could harm the probe's integrity, with a portion of the GOP caucus downplaying the violence of Jan. 6.

“If Jim Jordan were in charge, it would be just like the Benghazi investigation," said Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who led house impeachment manager against former President Donald Trump. "Luckily, he’s not in charge."

Two Senate committees released a bipartisan report of the Jan. 6 riot that only examined security, preparation and response to the attack rather than the Trump White House's actions as the attack was underway.

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