After Senate Republicans used the filibuster to kill legislation for a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol Riots of January 6, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California established a select committee for the investigation, endowing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, also of California, with the power to nominate five Republicans to the commission.
Among McCarthy's picks were Republican Congressmen Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana—both of whom voted to toss electoral college votes in swing states former President Donald Trump lost in the 2020 election, further validating the very lies that incited the Capitol Riots.
On Wednesday, Pelosi rejected the pair's appointments, saying in a 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.
The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision."
This enraged McCarthy, who then pulled each of his nominations to the committee and excoriated Pelosi in a subsequent press conference.
There, he accused Pelosi of "playing politics" and vowed that Republicans would form their own investigations of the Capitol Riots.
Watch below.
McCarthy told reporters:
"We will run our own investigation. We have law enforcement, we have military, we have doctors, we have people from all walks of life. They wanna know the answer, the American people deserve that. They don't deserve destroying the institution. No committee in Congress will work if one person is picking all who can serve."
Congressional Republicans have repeatedly dismissed the severity of the deadly failed insurrection, as well as promoted conspiracy theories that anti-Trump activists were secretly responsible. What's more, many of these same Republicans parroted Trump's election conspiracies and urged his supporters to fight against the congressional certification of Biden's victory.
For most, McCarthy and his Republican colleagues had lost all credibility for conducting an investigation.
People also pointed out that it was Republicans who killed the original legislation that would have allowed an equal number of Republicans on the committee and would have granted them subpoena powers.
The first hearing of the Select Committee will be on July 27.
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