(CNN)House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is considering naming GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger to join the select committee investigating the deadly January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
During a news conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday morning, Pelosi said, “We’ll see,” when asked about the potential appointment.
“I mean, there are some members that would like to be on it,” Pelosi added. “But, we’ll see.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who’s been appointed chairman of the new committee, said Thursday that adding Kinzinger to the panel has been discussed with the speaker. Thompson said if Pelosi signs off, Kinzinger will be a “welcome addition.”
Kinzinger, a vocal Republican critic of former President Donald Trump and who was one of 10 GOP House members to vote for his second impeachment, would join Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as the only Republicans on the new select committee. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled his five GOP members from the panel, after Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy’s five choices — Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio.
Kinzinger refused to comment about his potential appointment to the panel on Thursday morning.
Emerging from a meeting in Pelosi’s office with fellow members on the select committee, Cheney said Thursday that Kinzinger would be a “tremendous addition” to the panel. She added that she’d be supportive of the move, but noted it’s ultimately up to the speaker.
The committee is scheduled to hold its first hearing next week.
When asked what she hopes to get out of the first hearing, Cheney called it an opportunity to hear first-hand from the “brave” officers who put their lives on the line, “put some facts on the table,” and “counter some of the attempts at whitewash.”
This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday.
CNN’s Lauren Fox contributed to this report.
