The new Republican-led subcommittee investigating the events around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol will have its first hearing next month, panel Chair Barry Loudermilk said Thursday.
The Georgia Republican said the hearing will focus on the Biden-era FBI’s inquiry into the pipe bombs left at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees the day before Congress gathered to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
It will also come on the heels of the recent arrest of a suspect in the pipe bombs case, nearly five years after the fact: The Justice Department earlier this month charged a 30-year-old Virginia man with transporting the explosive devices.
“We’re looking at … January” for a hearing, Loudermilk said in a brief interview. “We’re nailing down the date — I think it’s probably going to be around the third week or so.”
The select subcommittee’s hearing will officially launch the next chapter in the GOP’s attempts to rewrite the narrative around the violent riot at the Capitol.
Republicans have long argued that the previous incarnation of the Jan. 6 committee, led by Democrats, was unfair to President Donald Trump; they allege it was more focused on maligning Republicans than exploring the security failures that allowed the violent events to take place.
Trump and his allies have also continued to brood over the Biden DOJ’s handling of the aftermath of the attacks and efforts to hold bad actors accountable for their actions. Just this past week, former special counsel Jack Smith — who led the investigation into Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election — sat for an hourslong deposition with the House Judiciary Committee to defend his probe.
In a brief interview Thursday, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland — the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee who also sits as an ex officio member of the newly reconstituted Jan. 6 panel — suggested that Loudermilk invite Smith to testify about the political motives of the pipe bombs suspect.
“Undoubtedly, the fact that this guy was a supporter of Donald Trump’s big lie, and the various activities of January 6, suggests that there was no cover-up of who the person was,” said Raskin, who served on the now-disbanded, Democratic-led Jan. 6 committee.