GOP Senator Calls For New Probe Into January 6 Committee
Former Republican Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and some current Democrats, including California Sen. Adam Schiff, may find themselves in hot water soon if a GOP senator gets his way.
Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) has called for a formal investigation into the Democrat-led House January 6 Select Committee after then-President Joe Biden issued pardons to members of the panel.
“For months the Democrats said that under an old Supreme Court case, taking a pardon is an indication of guilt,” Banks said on X. “Under that logic, by accepting pardons, Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, and the other January 6th committee members have effectively confessed to engaging in criminal conduct.
“Now that we know that their pardons were illegitimately signed by autopen, rendering them legally invalid, an investigation into the actions of every single committee member should be launched immediately!” he added.
For months the Democrats said that under an old Supreme Court case, taking a pardon is an indication of guilt.
— Senator Jim Banks (@SenatorBanks) March 17, 2025
Under that logic, by accepting pardons, Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, and the other January 6th committee members have effectively confessed to engaging in criminal…
When then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi formed the committee, she denied then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s list of Republicans to be added to the committee and instead added her own, including the two most anti-Trump Republicans in the House at the time.
Current House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan was, like Banks- who was a House member at the time- among the Republicans who were denied a spot on the committee.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican leading the investigation are unable to decide how to proceed with their investigation into the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
According to three sources familiar with the negotiations, Johnson wants Republicans to narrow the scope of the previous January 6 committee’s investigation and cease looking into it, including former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney.
However, some White House officials support GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s preference for a more expansive mandate, as he has been appointed to lead the investigation. CNN previously reported that President Donald Trump told Johnson before his inauguration that he wanted this investigation to be a top priority.
According to the sources, Loudermilk’s new select subcommittee, which Johnson announced in January, has not yet begun its work in part because of the behind-the-scenes dispute that has stalled negotiations.
“I told former Speaker Kevin McCarthy that I would accept the challenge under two conditions: I would have the autonomy and resources necessary to effectively pursue the facts without political bias or outside influence, and I would have the authority to report whatever we find to the American people,” Loudermilk told CNN in a statement.
“McCarthy asked me to lead House Republicans’ investigation into the Capitol’s security failures on January 6, 2021, and Pelosi’s Select Committee. This, in my opinion, is still necessary in order to effectively seek the truth,” he added.
Loudermilk focused on the previous January 6 committee and its output during the previous Congress. The House GOP report’s recommendation at the end was for the FBI to look into Cheney’s involvement in the Capitol attack investigation.
The sources also stated that the investigation’s tapered scope would prevent it from examining security readiness before the attack and future security measures for the US Capitol.
Last month, Loudermilk announced that Speaker Johnson promised him that his investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol will be “formalized as a new committee.”
This is part of a larger plan by Republicans to keep going with several investigations they started in the last Congress, now that they control both houses of Congress and the White House.
Loudermilk said the new committee’s details are still being worked out, but one option is to make it so that Johnson has more say over who is put on the panel (called a “select committee”) and how it works.
Making a new committee to highlight Loudermilk’s work, which included a report suggesting that former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney be charged by the FBI, keeps the Republican campaign to keep President Donald Trump from being held responsible for the violence on January 6 in the spotlight.
“It was so singularly focused that basically Trump created this entire problem,” Loudermilk said of the former January 6 select committee that Schiff and Cheney helped lead. “When in reality, it was a multitude of failures at different levels.”
