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A newly established Republican subcommittee to investigate the attacks on the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, is set to convene next month — five years after the violent breach of the building took place, and three years after the original January 6 committee completed its work.

That original committee investigated both the failures of security and the events that led up to the attack, ultimately determining that President Donald Trump’s baseless claim that he only lost the 2020 presidential race to Joe Biden due to widespread fraud was the “central cause” of the event.

That original committee was led by Democrats. The new GOP-led committee, which was established through a House resolution in the fall, ostensibly seeks to examine parts of the attack that the first committee supposedly overlooked, namely the security failures. Critics of the new committee’s establishment, however, believe it is part of a broader GOP strategy to downplay Trump’s role in inciting the violence that occurred.

Committee chair Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Georgia) announced earlier in December that the new panel’s work would begin next month.

“We’re nailing down the date — I think it’s probably going to be around the third week [of January] or so,” Loudermilk said.

Loudermilk’s committee will have full subpoena authority to obtain records and information regarding the attack.

© Truthout