Today in one sentence: The House Homeland Security Committee agreed to create a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol; House Republicans elected Rep. Elise Stefanik as their new No. 3 leader; the executive director of a top conservative group bragged in a leaked video that her organization had crafted the new voter suppression law in Georgia; several Project Veritas operatives were reportedly involved in a secrete plot during the Trump administration to discredit perceived "enemies" of Trump inside the government; and a Rep. Matt Gaetz associate agreed to cooperate with federal investigators and admitted to paying an underage girl to have sex with him and other men.

1/ The House Homeland Security Committee agreed to create a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The legislation would create a 10-person panel – half appointed by Democrats, including the chair, and half by Republicans – to conduct an investigation, make recommendations, and issue a final report by the end of the year. Subpoenas would require bipartisan support. The deal had been stalled for months since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi first proposed a 9/11-type commission, with both House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell concerned about the scope of the investigation. Pelosi wanted the panel to focus only on Jan. 6 and the groups that participated in the riot, but Republicans insisted that the scope include political violence by the far-left during protests against police brutality last year. McCarthy was noncommittal about whether he supports the commission, and in response to being told that the commission would be limited in scope to the Jan. 6 riot, he replied: “That’s very concerning to me.” (NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / NPR / Washington Post)

2/ House Republicans elected Rep. Elise Stefanik as their new No. 3 leader, replacing Rep. Liz Cheney with a Trump loyalist. The secret-ballot vote came two days after House Republicans removed Cheney from the role following her criticism of Trump and refusal to stay quiet about Trump’s false narrative that the election was stolen. (New York Times / NPR / Politico / ABC News)

3/ The executive director of a top conservative group bragged in a leaked video that her organization had crafted the new voter suppression law in Georgia. During a private meeting in April, Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action for America (a sister organization of the Heritage Foundation), told the foundation’s donors that her group was also helping craft similar bills for Republican state legislators across the country. “In some cases, we actually draft them for them,” Anderson said, “or we have a sentinel on our behalf give them the model legislation so it has that grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe.” The Georgia law had “eight key provisions that Heritage recommended,” Anderson said, including restricting mail ballot drop boxes, preventing election officials from sending absentee ballot request forms, making it easier for partisan workers to monitor the polls, preventing the collection of mail ballots, and restricting donations from nonprofit groups seeking to aid in election administration. (Mother Jones)

4/ Several Project Veritas operatives were reportedly involved in a secrete plot during the Trump administration to discredit perceived “enemies” of Trump inside the government. The campaign included a planned operation against Trump’s national security adviser at the time, H.R. McMaster, and surveillance operations against FBI employees. Female undercover operatives arranged dates with FBI employees aimed at secretly recording them making disparaging comments about Trump. The campaign against McMaster involved a plan to hire a woman armed with a hidden camera to capture McMaster making disparaging remarks his opponents could then use as leverage to get him fired as national security adviser. The operation ended in March 2018 when McMaster resigned. (New York Times)

5/ A Rep. Matt Gaetz associate agreed to cooperate with federal investigators and admitted to paying an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal charges, including identity theft, stalking, wire fraud, conspiracy to bribe a public official, and sex trafficking of a minor. Greenberg admitted that he had paid a 17-year-old girl for sex and gave her drugs. Greenberg admitted that he “introduced the minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts” with her. The former Florida tax official’s criminal case led to the investigation into whether Gaetz violated sex trafficking laws by having sex with the same girl. (New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News)

Two years ago today: Day 845: Echoes.
Three years ago today: Day 480: A fucked-up feedback loop.