House Republicans Launch Investigation into Jan. 6 Select Committee and Capitol Security Failures

House Republicans have announced plans to investigate the select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, according to a report by CNN on Wednesday. The Justice Department has argued that defendants in the Jan. 6 case should not be allowed to delay their upcoming criminal trials based on speculation that the 40,000-plus hours of security footage recently made available to Fox News’s Tucker Carlson may contain exculpatory evidence.

In a court filing for the Jan. 6 defendant Ryan Nichols’ case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean McCauley wrote that the extent of any material provided to other individuals by a member of the legislative branch is unknown. The investigations reportedly include looking into Capitol security at the time of the attack and how Jan. 6 defendants have been treated by the legal system.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has suggested that the Jan. 6 committee did not take an impartial approach to the investigation and instead focused on the political side of it. McCarthy has said he is looking into what happened in the Capitol and why there was such a security failure.

The Justice Department has argued that the Jan. 6 defendants should not be granted an indefinite trial extension based on the unsupported allegation that pertinent information may exist somewhere. It is unclear what the outcome of the House Republicans’ investigation will be or how it will affect the Jan. 6 defendants.