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WASHINGTON — Texas Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, is among the five Republicans that U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, tapped for the Democratic-led select committee to investigate what happened on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.
Nehls is a former sheriff credited with trying to help Capitol police barricade the entrance to the House chamber as rioters tried to enter.
The House, with a 220-211 Democratic majority, voted to create the committee on June 30 after it was proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California. It passed largely along party lines — with 190 Republicans voting against the panel’s creation — and McCarthy was responsible for filling five slots on the panel “in consultation” with Pelosi.
McCarthy announced his selections late Monday.
Nehls, the former Fort Bend County sheriff, won his House seat in south Houston last November. On Jan. 6, the freshman congressman said he tried to back up the Capitol police by negotiating with members of the mob as they attempted to bust into the House chambers. Before his run for Congress, Nehls worked in law enforcement for more than 25 years.
The effort produced a stunning image: Nehls standing next to two members of Capitol police with their guns drawn, talking through a broken window in the House chamber to rioters on the other side.