We have started investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Nothing will be off-limits.

On Jan. 6, a violent mob attacked the citadel of our democracy — the U.S. Capitol — in an attempt to prevent Congress from doing its constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

On Tuesday, the bipartisan Select Committee on the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol begins its work investigating the facts, circumstances and causes of this assault on our democracy.

I had hoped that such an investigation would be carried out by an independent commission composed of national security experts, like the panel created by Congress after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. However, once the House Republican leadership rejected — and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell filibustered — bipartisan legislation to establish such a commission, we in the House believed we had no choice but to establish a select committee. In a recent poll, 72 percent of Americans agree there is more we must learn about that day.

House Democrats on Tuesday will attempt to move past the partisan rancor that has engulfed their effort to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by highlighting what they expect to be emotional testimony from police officers on the scene that day and giving prominent roles to two panel Republicans during the special committee’s inaugural hearing.

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