The first account (A) is from the 2022 Final Report of the Select Committee. The second account (B) is from the 2024 Interim Report on the Failures and Politicization of the January 6th Select Committee (prepared at the direction of Congressman Barry Loudermilk, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on House Administration)

A.

From the January 6 Report:

pp.128-131

In the week after January 6th, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy initially supported legislation to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, stating that “the President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters” and calling for creation of a “fact-finding commission.”735 Leader McCarthy repeated his support for a bipartisan commission during a press conference on January 21st: “The only way you will be able to answer these questions is through a bipartisan commission.”736 

On February 15th, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in a letter to the House Democratic Caucus her intent to establish the type of independent commission McCarthy had supported, to “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attacks upon the United States Capitol Complex.”737 A few days thereafter, Leader McCarthy provided the Speaker a wish list that mirrored “suggestions from the Co-Chairs of the 9/11 Commission” that he and House Republicans hoped would be included in the House’s legislation to establish the Commission.738 

In particular, Leader McCarthy requested an equal ratio of Democratic and Republican nominations, equal subpoena power for the Democratic Chair and Republican Vice Chair of the Commission, and the exclusion of predetermined findings or outcomes that the Commission itself would produce. Closing his letter, Leader McCarthy quoted the 9/11 Commission Co-Chairs, writing that a “bipartisan independent investigation will earn credibility with the American public.”739 He again repeated his confidence in achieving that goal.740 In April 2021, Speaker Pelosi agreed to make the number of Republican and Democratic Members of the Commission equal, and to provide both parties with an equal say in subpoenas, as McCarthy had requested.741 

In May 2021, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson began to negotiate more of the details for the Commission with his Republican counterpart, Ranking Member John Katko.742 On May 14th, Chairman Thompson announced that he and Ranking Member Katko had reached an agreement on legislation to “form a bipartisan, independent Commission to investigate the January 6th domestic terrorism attack on the United States Capitol and recommend changes to further protect the Capitol, the citadel of our democracy.”743

On May 18th, the day before the House’s consideration of the Thompson-Katko agreement, Leader McCarthy released a statement in opposition to the legislation.744 Speaker Pelosi responded to that statement, saying: “Leader McCarthy won’t take yes for an answer.”745 The Speaker referred to Leader McCarthy’s February 22nd letter where “he made three requests to be addressed in Democrats’ discussion draft.”746 She noted that “every single one was granted by Democrats, yet he still says no.”747 

In the days that followed, Republican Ranking Member Katko defended the bipartisan nature of the bill to create the Commission:

As I have called for since the days just after the attack, an independent, 9/11-style review is critical for removing the politics around January 6 and focusing solely on the facts and circumstances of the security breach at the Capitol, as well as other instances of violence relevant to such a review. Make no mistake about it, Mr. Thompson and I know this is about facts. It’s not partisan politics. We would have never gotten to this point if it was about partisan politics.748

That evening, the House passed the legislation to establish a National Commission to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol Complex in a bipartisan fashion, with 35 Republicans joining 217 Democrats voting in favor and 175 Republicans voting against.749 In the days thereafter, however, only six Senate Republicans joined Senate Democrats in supporting the legislation, killing the bill in the Senate.750 

On June 24th, Speaker Pelosi announced her intent to create a House select committee to investigate the attack.751 On June 25th, Leader McCarthy met with DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was seriously injured on January 6th.752 Officer Fanone pressed Leader McCarthy “for a commitment not to put obstructionists and the wrong people in that position.”753 

On June 30th, the House voted on H. Res. 503 to establish a 13-Member Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United StatesCapitol by a vote of 222 Yeas and 190 Nays with just two Republicans supporting the measure: Representative Liz Cheney and Representative Adam Kinzinger.754 On July 1st, Speaker Pelosi named eight initial Members to the Select Committee, including one Republican: Representative Cheney.755 

On July 17th, Leader McCarthy proposed his selection of five members: 

Representative Jim Jordan, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee; Representative Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota; House Energy and Commerce Committee; Representative Troy Nehls, House Transportation & Infrastructure and Veterans’ Affairs Committees. 

Representative Jim Banks, Armed Services, Veterans’ Affairs and Education and Labor Committees; 

Representative Rodney Davis, Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration.756

Jordan was personally involved in the acts and circumstances of January 6th, and would be one of the targets of the investigation. By that point, Banks had made public statements indicating that he had already reached his own conclusions and had no intention of cooperating in any objective investigation of January 6th, proclaiming, for example, that the Select Committee was created “. . . solely to malign conservatives and to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda.”757

On July 21st, Speaker Nancy Pelosi exercised her power under H. Res. 503 not to approve the appointments of Representatives Jordan or Banks, expressing “concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members” and “the impact their appointments may have on the integrity of the investigation.”758 However, she also stated that she had informed Leader McCarthy “. . . that I was prepared to appoint Representatives Rodney Davis, Kelly Armstrong and Troy Nehls, and requested that he recommend two other Members.”759

In response, Leader McCarthy elected to remove all five of his Republican appointments, refusing to allow Representatives Armstrong, Davis and Nehls to participate on the Select Committee.760 On July 26, 2021, Speaker Pelosi then appointed Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger.761 In resisting the Committee’s subpoenas, certain litigants attempted to argue that the Commission’s Select Committee’s composition violated House Rules or H. Res. 503, but those arguments failed in court.762

B.

From the 2nd J6 Report:

pp.9-11

ESTABLISHMENT OF PELOSI’S FLAWED SELECT COMMITTEE 

On June 30, 2021, the Democrat House majority passed House Resolution 503 establishing the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. 6 The Select Committee, with its more than eighteen million dollar budget, resulted in little more than Hollywood-produced political theater and wasted taxpayer dollars to create an error-filled narrative masquerading as a congressional report. 7 Throughout its nearly two years of work, the Select Committee presented uncorroborated, cherry-picked evidence to build its narrative. The sole purpose of the Select Committee was to prevent President Trump from seeking reelection to the White House. 

In contrast, Chairman Barry Loudermilk and the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight (“Subcommittee”) investigated the full array of security and intelligence breakdowns at the United States Capitol in the days leading up to, and on January 6, 2021. In the course of its investigation, the Subcommittee identified numerous inexcusable failures that should have been avoided, and must be addressed moving forward. 

The events of January 6, 2021, were preventable. The politicization of Capitol security directly contributed to the many structural and procedural failures witnessed that day. Through the Subcommittee’s robust oversight of the United States Capitol Police (“USCP”) and supporting entities, the Subcommittee remains committed to ensuring necessary reforms to USCP operations and the Capitol’s physical security.

Flawed Composition of the Select Committee 

The day after the House voted on House Resolution 503 to create the Select Committee, Speaker Pelosi named seven Democrats and one Republican—Liz Cheney—to represent the interests of the Democrats. 8 Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy proposed five Republicans to represent the minority,9 and in an outlandish and unprecedented move, Speaker Pelosi rejected the House minority leader’s nominations.10 Despite claiming to model the Select Committee after the Republican-led Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attacks in Benghazi—wherein then-Minority Leader Pelosi appointed five Democrat members of her choosing to sit on that committee11—Speaker Pelosi refused to extend the same courtesy to Minority Leader McCarthy. She justified this radical move with this blanket excuse: “The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.” 12 Unfortunately for the American public, this excuse would be used by the Select Committee throughout the course of its existence to justify a multitude of untoward and unprecedented actions. 

Minority Leader McCarthy refused to play along with Speaker Pelosi’s clearly partisan Select Committee and withdrew all five of the Republican appointments.13 As a result, Speaker Pelosi named Representative Adam Kinzinger—the only Republican other than Representative Cheney to vote in favor of the creation of the Select Committee—14as the ninth and final member of the Select Committee. According to House Rule 10 Clause 5, the members of standing committees shall be elected “from nomination[s] submitted by the respective party caucus or conference,” 15 but Speaker Pelosi ignored this rule. Despite H. Res 503 dictating that the Select Committee consist of thirteen members, five of whom in consultation with the minority leader, Speaker Pelosi pushed ahead with the seven Democrats and two Republicans, selected by the majority, who had demonstrated their commitment to the destruction of President Trump. For example, Representatives Jamie Raskin and Adam Schiff both served as impeachment managers against President Trump prior to their appointment to the Select Committee.16

The Select Committee’s unwritten purpose was to prevent President Trump from seeking reelection in 2024. It was no secret that, after Speaker Pelosi failed to secure a conviction in the Senate for the second time, the only way to guarantee that President Trump could not return to office would be if he was found to have “engaged in an insurrection or rebellion against” the Constitution of the United States in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. 17 This idea was published in major newspapers within days of January 6 and spoken about frequently in Left wing circles. 18 Speaker Pelosi knew that the best pathway to stop President Trump from returning to the White House was if the Select Committee could craft a narrative compelling enough to convince the Department of Justice and the judicial system, along with the American public, that President Trump was an “insurrectionist.” 
House Resolution 503 mandated that the Select Committee investigate the “facts, circumstances, and causes” of January 6, and the “preparedness and response” of law enforcement. 19 Instead, as evidenced by the Select Committee’s Final Report, it deployed its vast resources to attempt to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House. H. Res. 503’s mandate does not mention an investigation of President Trump, but the Select Committee still managed to include President Trump’s name more than 1,900 times in its final report.