The hearing marks the second time House Republicans have established a committee to probe Jan. 6 since taking control of the chamber, contesting the findings of the original bipartisan panel that released its report in 2022 and concluded former President Donald Trump bore responsibility for inciting the attack.
The House Republican-led Select Committee on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack held its first hearing Wednesday in Washington, one week after the fifth anniversary of the riot. The session was billed as an examination of the FBI’s investigation into pipe bombs placed outside Democratic and Republican party headquarters on the day of the attack — a case that stretched nearly five years before federal agents made an arrest last month.
Republicans on the panel questioned the established record of that day, suggesting that Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol had been deceived into doing so and portraying militia groups that were central to the siege as having been entrapped by the federal government. Democrats on the committee pushed back sharply.
“There’s been a lot of talk about conspiracy theories and narratives,” said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., the committee’s chairman, as tensions rose during the two-hour hearing. He said his “objective is to get to the truth.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the panel’s ranking member, said Democrats would not allow the historical record to go unchallenged. “The truth is a resilient thing,” Raskin said. “We’re not going to put up with a pack of lies in this subcommittee and a bunch of conspiracy theories.”
Pipe Bomb Investigation
The FBI arrested Brian Cole Jr. of Virginia in December 2025 on suspicion of placing the pipe bombs outside the party headquarters. Cole told investigators after his arrest that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election was stolen and that he was “disappointed” that Trump had lost to then-Democrat Joe Biden.
John Nantz, a former FBI special agent who testified before the panel, said the Biden-era FBI under then-Director Christopher Wray had been focused elsewhere during the investigation. “Every resource should have been made available,” Nantz said.
Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., called that the “understatement of the century.” Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., pressed witnesses on why bomb-sniffing dogs had failed to discover one of the devices outside a party headquarters on the day of the attack.
Republicans Challenge the Record
Republicans on the panel attempted to pin the violence that day on certain agitators. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas — who was among those seen at barricaded doors to the House chamber during the attack — called the original Jan. 6 committee a “total sham.” He dismissed detailed testimony from police officers who recounted being beaten and injured during the attack as “highly scripted” accounts from “Trump haters.” “They put on a pretty good show,” he said of the original panel.
Seated in the front row of the hearing, wearing a black cowboy hat, was Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6 attack. Rhodes was among more than 1,500 people pardoned by President Trump after Trump retook office last year.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, turned to her colleagues during the hearing. “I am so frustrated with this country and I don’t think I’m the only one,” she said. “The conspiracy theories are driving me insane.”
Trump Pardons
Raskin pressed witnesses on Trump’s pardons of those convicted in the attack, noting that some pardoned individuals had gone on to commit other crimes.
Mike Romano, a former Justice Department prosecutor who testified before the panel, said he viewed Trump’s pardons as “ill-advised.” Romano said many pardoned individuals “have celebrated the pardons and tried to lie about what happened.”
When Raskin asked whether Trump’s pardon would extend to Cole if Cole were convicted in the pipe bomb case, Romano said the answer was unclear. “I don’t know that there’s a clear yes or no,” he testified. “And I think that’s a problem.”
Background
This is the second time House Republicans have established a committee to probe Jan. 6 since taking control of the chamber. The original Jan. 6 committee, established by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the immediate aftermath of the riot, released its findings in 2022. That panel concluded that Trump bore responsibility for inciting the attack, which unfolded as Congress certified the 2020 presidential election results for Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump was subsequently impeached by the House on the charge of inciting insurrection but was acquitted by the Senate. A four-count federal indictment against Trump, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, was abandoned after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, consistent with Justice Department protocol against prosecuting a sitting president.