WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Member of the House Oversight, House Judiciary, House Administration, Rules, and Select Coronavirus Committees, issued the following statement after being appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the bipartisan Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the Capitol:

“As Chair of the Oversight Committee’s Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee, I’ve helped lead the Oversight Committee’s painstaking investigation into violent white supremacy over the last two years. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has declared domestic violent extremism the number one security threat in the country. We saw that threat explode right in front of our eyes at the Capitol on January 6.

The impeachment Trial of Donald Trump determined – by robust, bicameral, bipartisan majorities – who incited the violence on January 6th. But who organized the violence of January 6th? How did they organize it? And why did they organize it? What were the purposes of all the different critical actors who were present on that day? That's what we need to figure out and that’s why this investigation is essential for every American. Madison said that people who mean to be their own governors must 'arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives.' We need the knowledge of the extremist threat that confronts us in order to defend our democracy with everything that we've got.