Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger said that he will serve on the panel to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, saying "that the American people deserve transparency and truth" about what happened that day.

What You Need To Know

  • Rep. Adam Kinzinger said that he will serve on the panel to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated she would appoint the Illinois Republican to the committee

  • Kinzinger is one of two Republicans who voted to form the special committee and one of just 10 to vote for Trump's second impeachment

  • The House voted in May to create an independent investigation that would have been evenly split between the parties, but Senate Republicans blocked that approach; Pelosi moved to create a select commitee to probe the Jan. 6 attack in the aftermath of that effort failing

  • House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy withdrew his five GOP picks from the panel after Pelosi rejected two of them; Currently GOP Rep. Liz Cheney sits on the committee along with seven Democrats — ensuring they have a quorum to proceed, whether other Republicans participate or not

"Let me be clear, I'm a Republican dedicated to conservative values, but I swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution—and while this is not the position I expected to be in or sought out, when duty calls, I will always answer," Kinzinger said in a statement.

"This moment requires a serious, clear-eyed, non-partisan approach," he added. "We are duty-bound to conduct a full investigation on the worst attack on the Capitol since 1814 and to make sure it can never happen again."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a separate statement that Kinzinger “brings great patriotism to the Committee's mission: to find the facts and protect our Democracy."

"On January 6th, insurrectionists attempted to overthrow the government during the worst assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812," she wrote. "It is imperative that we get to the truth of that day and ensure that such an attack can never again happen. That is why we established the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, which is bipartisan."

The move comes after Speaker Pelosi said that it was her “plan” to add the Illinois Republican, an outspoken Trump critic, to the panel. 

“That would be my plan,” Pelosi said on ABC’s "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" when asked by the eponymous host if she planned to add more Republicans, such as the Illinois Republican, to the panel.

"He and other Republicans have expressed an interest to serve on the select committee," Pelosi said. "And I wanted to appoint ... three of the members that Leader McCarthy suggested, but he withdrew their names. The two that I would not appoint are people who would jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. And there's no way I would tolerate their antics as we seek the truth."

The move comes as the panel is set to hold its first meeting this week, and just days after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Republicans would not participate in the panel after Pelosi rejected two of his picks – Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

The California Republican has said the committee was a “sham process” and withdrew his five members when Pelosi rejected the two Republican lawmakers, both of whom voted on Jan. 6 against certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win over Trump.

Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who Pelosi already appointed to the select committee, have faulted Trump as a factor in spurring the insurrection with his persistently false claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” due to voting fraud. Kinzinger is one of two Republicans who voted to form the special committee, with Cheney being the other, and one of just 10 to vote for Trump's second impeachment.

Pelosi said that she is not worried that the panel will stoke more division.

"We have had an unprecedented action, an assault, an insurrection against our government, an assault on the Capitol Building, which is an assault on the Congress, on a day that the Constitution required us, by the Constitution, to validate the work of the Electoral College," she said. "So, this was not just any day of the week. This was a constitutionally required day of action for Congress."

"The Republicans will say what they will say," Pelosi continued. "Our select committee will seek the truth. It's our patriotic duty to do so. And we do not come into our work worried about what the other side, who has been afraid of this."

"Maybe the Republicans can't handle the truth, but we have a responsibility to seek it, to find it and in a way that retains the confidence of the American people," Pelosi added.

The House voted in May to create an independent investigation that would have been evenly split between the parties, but Senate Republicans blocked that approach. Pelosi said the new panel was being created only because a bipartisan commission was no longer an option.

Currently Cheney sits on the committee along with seven Democrats — ensuring they have a quorum to proceed, whether other Republicans participate or not.

Pelosi expressed confidence that the committee’s work will be seen as bipartisan and credible even with McCarthy’s effort to boycott the panel.

“We have to, again, ignore the antics of those who do not want to find the truth,” she said. “We will find the truth. That truth will have the confidence of the American people because it will be done patriotically and not in a partisan way.”

Seven people died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot by police as she tried to break into the House chamber and three other Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that followed, and a third officer, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and later died after engaging with the protesters. A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.