Video: House Investigation Into The U.S. Capitol Insurrection, 1st Hearing

The U.S. House select committee investigating the events leading up to and during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 held its first public hearing Tuesday, July 27.

Four officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection have given emotional accounts of the attack. They testified Tuesday that they were beaten as the mob of former President Donald Trump supporters overwhelmed them, broke through windows and doors and interrupted the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win.

Officers testified with emotion that they felt they might well be killed. And they rebuked Republican lawmakers for resisting the investigation and playing down the violence of the mob.

Six months after the Capitol insurrection, the Justice Department is still hunting for scores of rioters, even as the first of more than 500 people already arrested have pleaded guilty.

The committee has been plagued with partisan conflict. Most House Republicans remain loyal to former President Donald Trump, and Congress is deeply split over the deadly insurrection.

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy withdrew all of his Republican nominations for the panel and said the GOP would not participate in the investigation after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi rejected two of his choices, Indiana Rep. Jim Banks and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. The two men are outspoken allies of Trump who both voted against certifying the 2020 election results.

McCarthy denounced the decision as “an egregious abuse of power," while Pelosi cited the “integrity” of the probe in refusing to accept the appointments.

Pelosi has appointed two Republican critics of Trump to the special committee — Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the longtime chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, will lead the select committee as chairman.

Thompson, Cheney and Kinzinger are joined by Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Adam Schiff, Pete Aguilar, Stephanie Murphy, Jamie Raskin and Elaine Luria, all Democrats.