Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Wednesday that House Republicans would establish a new select subcommittee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and counter “false narratives” about it, continuing the party’s efforts to rewrite the history of the riot.
Mr. Johnson’s announcement came just two days after President Trump pardoned those charged in connection with the assault. It suggested that Republicans planned to use their power over the government to continue promoting their own sanitized version of what had happened when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, disrupting the certification of the 2020 election.
Mr. Johnson said the panel, which would be part of the Judiciary Committee, would continue “exposing the false narratives peddled by” the previous select committee that had investigated the riot and what led to it. He called that committee, which had placed blame for the assault squarely on Mr. Trump and his effort to overturn the 2020 election, “politically motivated.”
“We are establishing this select subcommittee to continue our efforts to uncover the full truth that is owed to the American people,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement.
The move marks the latest step for Republicans in trying to recast the events of Jan. 6. On Monday, Mr. Trump issued nearly 1,600 pardons and 14 commutations of sentences for rioters, including those convicted of assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy against the United States. He has referred to Jan. 6 as “a day of love” and the rioters as “political prisoners,” “hostages” and “great patriots.”
And on Wednesday, one of those whose sentence was commuted, Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia who was released from prison on Monday, was spotted at a Dunkin’ Donuts inside the Capitol complex. Mr. Rhodes had been sentenced on charges of sedition stemming from the Capitol attack.