Pelosi announces House Select Committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack

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At a news conference on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the formation of a House Select Committee to investigate the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, after Republicans blocked the formation of an independent panel.

Video Transcript

NANCY PELOSI: Today, nearly six months later-- be six months in a little while-- many questions regarding the circumstances of this assault on our democracy and the response to it remain. It is imperative that we seek the truth as for what happened. To do that, we believe that a bipartisan commission would be the best way to proceed in the spirit of patriotism and bipartisanship and to establish an independent 9/11-type commission.

Unfortunately, despite the expressed support of seven GOP senators, Mitch McConnell asked Republican senators to do him a personal favor and vote against the commission. Cowardly, the Republican senators did him a personal favor rather than honoring their patriotic duty to protect and defend.

For the past four weeks, there had been attempts from outside groups, from leaders across the country, to persuade the Senate to pass the commission. Tomorrow will be four weeks since the commission failed in the Senate.

I asked, leading up to today, is there a chance for it to pass? We gave it so much time. Not soon, not likely, maybe someday-- in the meantime, I'm hopeful that that could still happen at some point. However, this morning, with great solemnity and sadness, I'm announcing that the House will be establishing a select committee on the January 6 insurrection.

Again, January 6 was one of the darkest days in our nation's history. I've said it now three times. It is imperative that we establish the truth of that day and ensure that an attack of that kind cannot happen and that we root out the causes of it all.

The select committee will investigate and report on the facts and the causes of the attack. And it will make-- report recommendations for the prevention on any future--