McCarthy Pulls Republican Members Off Pelosi’s Jan 6th Committee After She Vetoes Two GOP Appointees

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Jul 21, 2021

Republican Houses Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy suddenly pulled all five GOP appointees from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s Democrat-led committee that was set to investigate the Jan. 6th riots at the Capitol building after she refused to seat Reps. Jim Jordan from Ohio and Jim Banks from Indiana.

Apparently Pelosi refused to seat the two over concerns that they would impact the “integrity of the investigation.”

via Daily Wire:

McCarthy announced his picks for the Select Committee on Monday, balancing out three more moderate Republicans with two supporters of former President Donald Trump, likely in order to ensure that Pelosi seated the full complement of GOP appointees alongside her own Democrat appointees and her hand-selected Republican panel members, including Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney.

Banks, after being appointed, said he would “force Democrats and the media” to “answer questions so far ignored. Among them, why was the Capitol so unprepared and vulnerable to attack on January 6th?”

He also suggested that he would try to steer the Select Committee towards investigating political violence more broadly, probing not just the January 6th riot, but also ongoing violence in Democrat-run cities like Portland, Oregon.

“But McCarthy appointed three other panelists who are unlikely to be Trump allies, Republican Reps. Rodney Davis (IL), Kelly Armstrong (ND), and Troy Nehls (TX). Davis was one of 35 Republicans to vote with the Speaker to create the Select Committee; Armstrong signed a letter impugning her colleagues for objecting to the results of the presidential election; and freshman Nehls, who voiced support for Trump but has a reputation for bipartisanship, per Forbes,” the report from the Daily Wire stated.

After his appointment, Nehls simply stated that “Jan. 6 was a sad day and let’s just get to the bottom of it.”

https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1417245430929399810

Pelosi issued a statement on Wednesday in which she made it very clear that she refused to seat either Banks or Jordan due to concerns over “the impact their appointments may have on the integrity of the investigation,” which is a move even she herself said was “unprecedented.”

“Monday evening, the Minority Leader recommended 5 Members to serve on the Select Committee. I have spoken with him this morning about the objections raised about Representatives Jim Banks and Jim Jordan and the impact their appointments may have on the integrity of the investigation. I also informed him that I was prepared to appoint Representatives Rodney Davis, Kelly Armstrong, and Troy Nehls, and requested that he recommend two other Members,” she said in the statement.

“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,” she continued. “The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.”

When Pelosi was asked by the press why she rejected the two men, she went on to say only, “January 6th.”

As a response to Pelosi’s behavior, McCarthy pulled all Republican participation, which puts the legitimacy of Pelosi’s findings in danger, casting the whole select committee as a “sham process.”

“This represents an egregious abuse of power and will irreparably damage this institution,” McCarthy went on to say in a statement. “Denying the voices of members who have served in the military and law enforcement, as well as leaders of standing committees, has made it undeniable that this panel has lost all legitimacy and credibility and shows the Speaker is more interested in playing politics than seeking the truth.”

“Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts,” McCarthy said to reporters.

“We said all along that this was a purely partisan exercise by the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi’s rejection of me and Jim Jordan shows once again she is the most partisan figure in America today,” Banks himself said.