Can you believe this is necessary? That the House Republicans are feared to be such lawless monsters that they would endanger the lives of people who testified truthfully is outrageous — if it weren’t so predictable: The leaders of the House January 6 select committee investigation have asked the White House to help shield the identities of key witnesses who gave evidence regarding White House officials’ fears that President Trump’s desire to walk to the Capitol with a riotous mob of his supporters indicated his intention to mount a coup against the government he led at the time. In a letter to Richard Sauber, a White House attorney who serves as special counsel to President Joe Biden, Representatives Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney — the panel’s chair and vice-chair — noted that the committee had reached agreement with the White House Counsel’s Office to obtain testimony from certain White House personnel on the condition that the identities of any such witnesses would remain secret. Mr Thompson and Ms Cheney said those White House employees had “provided very important information for the Committee’s investigation” and have had their identities shielded, but warned that the dissolution of the select committee at the conclusion of the 117th Congress means the panel’s former members “will no longer exercise control over this material, and thus cannot ensure enforcement of the commitment to maintain the confidentiality of the identity of the witnesses”. “Pursuant to long-standing House rules, the official records of the Committee will be archived and pass into the control of the…