House Speaker Nancy Pelosi officially announced Thursday that she will create a select committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol, CNN reports.
The select committee will corral the various House Democratic investigations into the events surrounding the deadly insurrection into a single effort.
"This morning, with great solemnity and sadness, I'm announcing that the House will be establishing a select committee on the January 6 insurrection," Pelosi said. "The select committee will investigate and report on the facts and the causes of the attack and it will report recommendations for the prevention of any future attack."
Pelosi's decision to move forward with a select committee led by House Democrats comes after her initial effort to create an independent panel modeled after the 9/11 Commission was blocked by Senate Republicans.
The US House of Representatives had passed a bill to form a commission to probe the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The bill was approved in a 252-175 vote, with 35 Republicans joining all Democrats in support.
Two days later, however, Senate Republicans blocked the legislation. Senators voted 54-35 on the House-passed bill, falling short of the 10 GOP votes needed to get it over an initial hurdle.
The White House has shot down the prospect of President Joe Biden appointing his own commission to investigate the Capitol riots.
Former President Donald Trump has been accused of inciting the January 6 riots on the Capitol, though the Senate acquitted Trump of charges of “inciting insurrection” leading to the riots.
The NAACP and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) recently sued Trump in connection with the riots. The lawsuit alleges that Trump incited the Capitol riot in violation of a Reconstruction Era law commonly referred to as the Ku Klux Klan Act.
With a select committee, Democrats are likely to have unilateral subpoena power, just as Republicans did when they created a select committee to investigate the deadly 2012 terrorist attack on the US compound in Benghazi, Libya.
The select committee is likely to closely examine the role Trump played in the lead up to the attack, but could also look at the role that some House members played, according to CNN.
Pelosi also did not name a chairman of the committee, saying that would come later. CNN noted that Rep. Thompson is seen as a potential candidate to chair the new panel.