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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Wednesday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had harmed the House as an institution and undermined the Jan.6 select committee by choosing not to sit in the House. Representatives Jim Jordan and Jim Banks, whom McCarthy chose to fill two of the five GOP positions. to the committee.
“President Pelosi took the unprecedented step of refusing the minority party’s choices for the select committee on January 6. This represents something that has never happened in the House before for a select committee, by the historian.” , McCarthy, R-Calif. , said at a press conference.
“This is a blatant abuse of power. Pelosi broke that institution. Denying the voices of members who served in the military – Jim Banks, a Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan,” McCarthy continued. “As well as a leader of a standing committee. Jim Jordan not only ranks his first committee, he already has.”
PELOSI FORBIDDEN GOP REPS. JIM JORDAN, JIM BANK TO SERVE JAN. 6 COMMITTEE, MCCARTHY MENACESNS BOYCOTT TOTAL
McCarthy’s fiery comments follow a statement he released in which he said Republicans would boycott the select committee altogether if Pelosi, D-Calif., Did not allow his five picks, including Jordan, R-Ohio and Banks, R-Ind. , be sitting.
“Unless President Pelosi changes course and sits on the five Republican nominees, Republicans will not participate in their mock process and instead continue our own investigation of the facts,” McCarthy said.
He said the Republicans would “lead our own investigation” into the January 6 attack.
The resolution passed by the House to create a select committee to investigate the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol required Pelosi to appoint five members to the committee “after consultation with the minority leader,” but this gave him a final veto right over members. This language is often used in relation to select committees and special committees, but the president’s veto is hardly ever exercised.
“This has not happened before. House Democrats must answer this question. Why are you allowing a lame speaker to destroy this institution? It is the People’s House, not the House of Pelosi,” he said. added McCarthy.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Speaks with reporters just after the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the Obama-era health care law, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Thursday, June 17, 2021 (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
Pelosi said she would sit on Reps Rodney Davis, R-Ill., Troy Nehls, R-Texas, and Kelly Armstrong, RN.D., which McCarthy also chose for the committee. But, she said, “With respect for the integrity of the investigation, insisting on the truth and worrying about the statements made and actions taken by these members, I must reject the recommendations of the representatives. Banks and Jordan on the select committee. “
Pelosi also said that “the violent domestic assault on Congress on January 6 was the worst assault on Capitol Hill since the War of 1812 and the worst domestic assault on American democracy since the Civil War.”
The attack was carried out by a host of Trump supporters who violated security on Capitol Hill as Congress certified the presidential election results. It came shortly after a rally by former President Donald Trump in which he doubled down on his false claims that the presidential election was stolen and told his supporters to march to Capitol Hill.
Democrats blamed Trump himself and Republicans who voted against certification of election results, as did Banks and Jordan.
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Pelosi, McCarthy added on Wednesday, “made it undeniable that this panel has lost all legitimacy and credibility. And it shows exactly what I warned in early January. That Pelosi would be playing politics with it.”
“It has always been a matter of politics and the speaker’s actions today only confirm it,” Jordan said at the press conference with McCarthy.
Banks and Jordan also weighed in on Pelosi blocking them from the committee. They alleged the committee was politicized by Democrats and Pelosi may bear some responsibility for security failures on Capitol Hill.
“She knows we’re already asking questions in just the two – the first two days that Chief McCarthy appointed us to this task, which Democrats never asked. Why the Capitol was vulnerable that day we had intelligence for weeks leading up to Jan. 6 that told us something dangerous was going to happen, ”Banks said.
“She knew that we were going to fight against their political game and that is why she did not want us to participate in this committee,” he added. “What is the speaker afraid of?
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