Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is the House Democrats‘ pick to serve as ranking member of the newly formed subcommittee investigating the attack at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but that selection is subject to Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) approval.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) announced he appointed Swalwell to serve on the committee as leader of the Democrats, along with Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, will serve as an ex officio member.

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The original Jan. 6 Select Committee was formed by Democrats in 2021 and disbanded by the GOP, who decried the investigation as a “sham” political witch hunt. The new subcommittee to investigate the events surrounding Jan. 6 aims to expose the “false narratives” peddled by the previous committee formed by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), according to Johnson.

Swalwell said during a press conference on Monday with Jeffries, Crockett, Moskowitz, and Raskin that Jan. 6 is one of the “three most important dates in American history.”

“December 7, 1941, September 11, and January 6,” Swalwell said. “The last two, I didn’t even have to give you the years, because they are seared into our memory and because we saw them with our own eyes.”

Democrats repeatedly blamed Republicans for continuing to bring up the Jan. 6 riots instead of focusing on current politics.

“We’re not the ones who brought back the January 6 issue. Republicans, to their own peril, brought back the January 6 issue, and it’s not going to work out well for them,” Jeffries said.

Raskin said Democrats will plan to use the new subcommittee to highlight the plaque honoring the officers who defended the Capitol that the GOP has declined to hang up, as well as highlight the criminal records of those who participated in the riots and have since been pardoned by President Donald Trump.

“They insist, once again, on returning to the scene of the crime,” Raskin said. “That gives us the chance to educate new generations of Americans about the dangers of political authoritarianism and the dangers of political and religious cults.”

Johnson ultimately has the final say on who will serve on the subcommittee, which will be chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) and fall under the umbrella of the Judiciary Committee.

Jeffries said he wouldn’t deal in hypotheticals as to whether Democrats would participate if his picks were rejected.

But, he said, “There’s zero precedent for anyone from the other party determining who was going to sit on a subcommittee if, in fact, they want to take that subcommittee seriously.”

There is precedent, however, for rejecting appointed picks for a committee.

In 2021, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled his House GOP picks for the original select committee. His decision came after Pelosi rejected two of his five picks: now-Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and now-Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN). Eventually, the only Republicans who served on the committee were former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who served as vice chair, and former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

A spokesperson for Johnson did not respond to requests for comment on whether the speaker will approve Jeffries’s selections.

But just as McCarthy’s picks were considered conservative firebrands, Moskowitz and Crockett are vocal Democratic members whose use of social media and outspoken rhetoric has earned them a high place in the party’s standings.

Swalwell was a member of the House Intelligence Committee and a driving force in the investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 election. McCarthy removed him from the panel in 2023.

Crockett said during Monday’s press conference that the Jan. 6 subcommittee is a tool to “divide and distract.”

“You see, the president doesn’t want you to focus on things such as his involvement with the Epstein files,” she said. “The president doesn’t want you to focus on things that he promised on the campaign trail, such as to lower costs for the American people.”

Moskowitz, known for his jokes and memes poking fun at Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), quipped that he thinks the subcommittee is in line with the GOP agenda.

“I give them credit for their consistency,” the Florida congressman joked. “They’re talking a lot about DC crime, and so I applaud them that they’re going to remind the American people with overwhelming video and imagery and pictures and testimony of the largest crime perpetrated on the Capitol since the British.”

Jeffries said ultimately, Republicans are trying to “whitewash the events” of Jan. 6 and insisted Democrats will be “fighting back.”

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“Rep. Swalwell will relentlessly ensure that the American people never forget who was responsible for the events of January 6th,” the minority leader said in his statement announcing his picks, adding that Moskowitz and Crockett are two “talented” Judiciary members and “distinguished attorneys.”