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The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is open for business, having held its first hearings on Tuesday. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — who last week withdrew the remaining Republican nominees to the committee after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi rejected two others — said the committee is “a sham that no one can believe.”
McCarthy referred to the committee as “a sham” last week when Pelosi made what appears to be a politically motivated maneuver in rejecting Representatives Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) from serving on the committee. Tuesday, McCarthy revisited the issue. Appearing in a press conference alongside other Republican leaders — including those who would have served on the committee — McCarthy said, “Speaker Pelosi will only pick on people on the committee that will ask the questions she wants asked. That becomes a failed committee and a failed report, a sham that no one can believe.” He went on to say, “If you want to do answers, do not be afraid of the questions that will get asked.”
McCarthy and other Republicans have pointed out that — as Speaker of the House — Pelosi carries the responsibility for security at the Capitol Building. Therefore, they say, she bears at least some of the blame for the events of January 6 getting out of hand, since security was wholly inadequate. On Tuesday, McCarthy said, “We now have a committee that all of America wants to know the answers to why were we ill prepared for that day, and how can we make sure that that will never happen again.” And House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said, “The American people deserve to know the truth — that Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility, as speaker of the House, for the tragedy that occurred on January 6.”
Pelosi responded, saying, “McCarthy and House Republicans have desperately tried to undermine and prevent a real investigation into the events of January 6th from the start. Now that the bipartisan Select Committee is beginning its work, the only tools left in House Republicans’ arsenal are deflection, distortion, and disinformation.”
But, Pelosi’s pejoratives duly noted and found wanting, it appears it is she, not House Republicans, who has an agenda where the committee is concerned. As this writer reported in a previous article on this topic:
McCarthy had nominated Representatives Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), and Troy Nehls (R-Texas) to serve on the bipartisan committee. On Wednesday, Pelosi made it clear that neither Jordan nor Banks would be allowed to serve on the committee. In her statement, Pelosi said, “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.”
Pelosi was quick to acknowledge that her action in rejecting Jordan and Banks is “unprecedented.” But that’s fine, she explained, since “the unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.” And — since her party is in control — that is that. There is no real course of redress or appeal. Nancy has spoken.
Her objections to Jordan and Banks stem from their staunch support of President Trump. Both voted to challenge certifying a Biden win in the 2020 election and have been critical of the changes to election methods that led to Biden’s claim of victory.
So, Pelosi — in her unilateral abuse of power — booted Banks and Jordan off the committee before they were even on it, preemptively calling foul because they do not share her views that (1) January 6 was the darkest day in American history and (2) it is Trump’s fault.
This seems to indicate that McCarthy is not off the mark in his assertion that Pelosi is politicizing the committee and that it has become a “failed committee” that will produce a “failed report” that “no one can believe.” The report is as good as written and will likely be about as credible as the Steele dossier that really started all of this in the first place.
McCarthy and Stefanik are not the only Republican leaders calling Pelosi out. House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said the rejection of Banks and Jordan — because of their opposing views — amounted to “canceling” them. “They got canceled by this new cancel culture that we see moving throughout the country led by Speaker Pelosi and a lot of our socialist allies here in Congress, where they want to shut out voices that raise tough questions that they don’t want to be asked or answered,” Scalise said.
Evidence of Pelosi’s politicization of the committee can be found in her habit of referring to it as a “bipartisan” committee. Having firmly established that it is her committee and that she has full, unchallenged, dictatorial control over it, Pelosi maintains the veneer of bipartisanship by handpicking a couple of token Republicans to sit on the committee. Those Republicans are Representatives Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) — both vocal critics of President Trump who voted in favor of impeachment in his second trial. With enemies like that, who needs friends? It is not as if there is any chance that either of them are going to present a point of view any different from that of the Democrat establishment.
McCarthy said that Pelosi has “broken Congress” and that she has made “the whole committee sham and the outcome predetermined.” “Sham” appears to be a good word to describe this committee. It may not be the perfect word, but that word can’t really be used in polite society.
