Johnson wants Republicans to stop investigating the former January 6 committee, including former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, and narrow its focus, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations. But GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who has been tapped to helm the probe, would prefer a broader mandate, a position backed by some officials at the White House. President Donald Trump told Johnson before he took office that he wanted this investigation to be a priority, CNN previously reported.
The tapered scope would also prohibit the investigation from looking at security preparedness leading up to the attack and how to improve security at the US Capitol going forward, the sources added.
The behind-the-scenes disagreement that has deadlocked negotiations is in part why Loudermilk’s new select subcommittee, which Johnson announced in January, has not yet started its work, the sources said.
Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment. CNN has also reached out to Loudermilk for comment.
In the last Congress, Loudermilk zeroed in on the former January 6 committee and its work product. The House GOP report culminated by recommending that Cheney be investigated by the FBI for her role in probing the Capitol attack.
But if Johnson has his way, Loudermilk would not be able to pick up his work where he left off. Housing Loudermilk’s new probe under the House Judiciary Committee, as Johnson would prefer, would limit the topics the subcommittee could investigate. Its focus would shift to subjects like the former federal investigations under the Department of Justice into January 6; trying to identify the person who placed two viable pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters; and the confidential human sources — paid FBI informants — who were in Washington DC, on January 6. Both areas are already being looked at by Trump allies atthe DOJ, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.
The dispute over how to handle the probe speaks to broader divisions that persist in the Republican party over how to handle the topic of January 6. Many Republican lawmakers would like to move on, but can’t because Trump himself isn’t done with the past and continues to make former January 6 committee members a top target.
GOP Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia, who has referred to rioters who stormed the Capitol as “peaceful grandmothers,” said of Loudermilk’s investigation: “I hope it’s not stalled.”
Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, who represents a swing district, told CNN he wasn’t aware that his colleagues were continuing to investigate January 6, indicating that this is not a top priority across the conference.
“I didn’t even know there was an effort to keep this going, to be honest with you,” Ciscomani said.
It’s not the only way that Johnson is stalling when it comes to how he handles January 6.
Johnson still has not hung a plaque to honor the Capitol Police officers who responded to the attack on January 6, even though former President Joe Biden signed a law that Congress passed back in 2022 mandating such a plaque be displayed on the front of the Capitol.
Given the chaotic first two months of the Trump presidency, the impasse over how to move forward with Loudermilk’s investigation has largely stayed under the radar.
But it won’t go unnoticed forever.
GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who has supported the effort to declare that Trump did not engage in an insurrection, told CNN that Republicans still need to investigate the former January 6 committee, security lapses, and claims about the FBI.
“We need to look into that,” she said.
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