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Former President Donald Trump will meet with Representative Kevin McCarthy on Thursday as the House Minority Leader considers whether to appoint Republicans to the Congressional select committee investigating the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill. United States.
Trump announced the meeting, which will take place at Trump’s private golf club in Bedminster, NJ, in a two-sentence statement that did not indicate what would be on the agenda.
“Lots of things to discuss!” Trump wrote.
McCarthy said he has not yet decided whether he will make appointments to the panel authorized last month by the House of Representatives that will investigate the attack on Congress by supporters of the former president.
Under the rules establishing the commission, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Can appoint eight members and McCarthy is entitled to appoint five. Pelosi unveiled his picks last week, which included GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of two Republicans who voted to endorse the panel in the first place.
McCarthy on Tuesday criticized Pelosi’s selections, which included two of the key members of the team that pursued Trump’s second impeachment, Reps Jamie Raskin, D-Md. and Adam Schiff, D-California.
“Putting Adam Schiff and Raskin on it sounds more like an impeachment committee than a committee that wants to get to the bottom of the issues that still exist,” McCarthy told Fox News.
McCarthy added that “I haven’t made a decision yet, even an appointment.”
“I’m discussing this with my members. I have a real concern, the scope of what we’re looking at,” McCarthy said.
A spokesperson for McCarthy did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Pelosi has a veto right over all selections made by McCarthy. On Wednesday, the panel announced it would hold its first hearing on July 27.
Trump has made an effort to tell the story of the January 6 riot, in which more than 100 police officers were injured and five people died, including a protester, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot dead while ‘he was apparently trying to infiltrate the House of Representatives through a broken window.
More than 500 people allegedly involved in the riot have already been arrested in an investigation which the Justice Department says is of unprecedented complexity.
Speaking on Fox News on Sunday, Trump called the riot peaceful.
“They were peaceful people, they were great people,” he told host Maria Bartiromo. “The crowd was amazing, and I mentioned the word love, love in the air, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Trump also criticized law enforcement for Babbitt’s murder and said he wanted the public to know the identity of the officer who shot him.
“Who is the person who shot an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman, right in the head?” Trump said. “There is no repercussion – it was on the other side, it would be the biggest story in this country. Who shot Ashli Babbitt? People want to know and why.”
The Justice Department said it would not prosecute the officer who killed Babbitt, citing a lack of evidence for a criminal charge. The officer’s name was not disclosed.
Notably, McCarthy and Trump spoke by phone on Jan.6 even as the siege of Congress was underway. McCarthy said he was the first person to contact the then president about what was going on.
According to a statement released by Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., During Trump’s second impeachment trial, McCarthy, during that phone call, asked Trump to call off the riot. In response, Trump “repeated the lie that it was antifa that violated the Capitol,” the statement said.
McCarthy refuted that and told the president that they were Trump supporters. That’s when, according to McCarthy, the president said, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset than you by the election, “the statement read.
Herrera Beutler was one of 10 Republicans in the House to vote for Trump’s impeachment.
McCarthy suggested he would be prepared to inform investigators about the phone call.
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