But these days, the progressive raised in the segregated South and the conservative scion are inseparable as they lead the Democrat-driven investigation into the Capitol riot and former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. They call and text daily, often while darting between airport gates. When the select committee’s work is behind him, Thompson hopes to join Cheney for an elk hunt in her home state of Wyoming…

“This is really how a legislative committee should operate,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said of the nine-member Jan. 6 panel he also sits on. “We do not engage in constant partisan crossfire and polemical attacks on one another.”…

Thompson said one of the reasons they speak so frequently is to present a united front to the broader committee when it comes to critical investigative calls. The committee is also notably interactive given pandemic-era constraints, holding regular Zoom calls for members and staff that have allowed a free exchange of ideas.

That marked contrast to the grandstanding and stasis of the typical high-profile congressional investigation — what Cheney called “seamless” movement — is in part due to the bond at the top of the select panel.