House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) announced Monday he is appointing Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) as the ranking member of Republicans' new Jan. 6 subcommittee.
Why it matters: The choice of Swalwell, who has since the first Trump administration positioned himself as a vocal #Resistance figure, signifies that Democrats are taking a combative stance towards the panel.
- Jeffries also tapped Reps. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), both vocal Trump critics, to serve on the subcommittee.
- "Republicans will regret that they've decided to go down this road," Jeffries said at a press conference announcing his picks.
State of play: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced plans to establish the panel as a House Judiciary subcommittee in January.
- Republicans are optimistic that, with allies now in charge at the Justice Department and FBI, they can dredge up information that contradicts the findings of the original Jan. 6 select committee.
- It will be chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who previously led the House Administration subcommittee investigating Jan. 6 in the last Congress.
What they're saying: "Donald Trump is trying to do with Jan. 6 what many fringe groups have done with Sept. 11," Swalwell said at the press conference.
- Moskowitz predicted the panel will be "an absolute waste of taxpayer money and taxpayer time."
- House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who will serve as an ex officio member of the subcommittee, described Republican probes of Jan. 6 as an "Orwellian rewrite of what took place."
The intrigue: Johnson has the ultimate say on who gets appointed to the panel and could, in theory, reject Jeffries' choices.
- That is what former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did to several of then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) picks for the Jan. 6 select committee in 2021, prompting McCarthy to pull all his nominees.
- A spokesperson for Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Jeffries declined to say whether Democrats would still participate in the panel if Johnson rejected any of his picks.
