A U.S. House panel dedicated to investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot kicked off its much-anticipated first hearing Tuesday featuring four police officers who defended the seat of the U.S. legislature during the violence.
Witnesses invited by the House select committee to testify at the inaugural hearing include two police officers from the Capitol Police and two others from the DC Metropolitan Police Department. Never-before-seen video footage depicting what happened on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 is expected to be shown during the hearing.
The goal of the hearing is to portray "what is like to be on the frontlines for the brave police officers" and to push back on efforts to whitewash the events of that day, Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the select committee, told reporters during a conference call Monday.
Members of the select committee, including seven Democrats and two Republicans, were all chosen by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a result of House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy pulling out all his five selections in protest of Pelosi rejecting two of his picks for the panel.
The two lone Republican members, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, are both vocal critics of former U.S. President Donald Trump, and were among the 10 Republican lawmakers who voted for the impeachment of Trump earlier this year for inciting the Capitol riot.
During her opening statement, Cheney, who was dumped from the House Republican leadership for her public denouncement of Trump, said the select committee should rise above politics and overcome efforts to "obscure the facts."
According to media reports, some 140 police officers were injured when confronting a mob of Trump supporters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election results for Joe Biden.
The Capitol riot, later deemed an insurrection, left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer.
