House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulls all of his GOP selections for the Capitol riot committee after Speaker Pelosi rejects two of his pickshttps://t.co/1VVLGfjXvw pic.twitter.com/Mr3v47KR23
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) July 21, 2021
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has now blocked Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) from serving on the committee that the House approved to investigate the January attack on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Subsequently, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) withdrew all of his selections for the committee. Both Banks and Jordan voted against formally certifying the entirety of Joe Biden’s election victory, and lies about the integrity of the election that produced that victory are exactly what originally inspired the assault on the Capitol. Thus, service by Banks and Jordan on the committee wouldn’t exactly be well-poised to produce an impartial result.
‘We are facing a radically new threat in the kinds of forces that combined to attack our government on January 6th. The future of our democracy is on the line. This assault was an attempt to overthrow the government. We need a comprehensive investigation as to who organized this attack, who paid for it, how they nearly succeeded in overthrowing a presidential election, why they did it and how we must organize ourselves to prevent anything like it from ever happening again.’
Pelosi also said that she has spoken with House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) about what she called “the objections raised about Representatives Jim Banks and Jim Jordan and the impact their appointments may have on the integrity of the investigation.” The objections to which she is referring are the votes that they cast against certifying Biden’s election victory. Across both chambers of Congress, a total of 147 Republican members of Congress voted against certifying Biden’s wins in certain states, despite the fact that not a single piece of legitimate evidence ever emerged indicating that systematic fraud was present in last year’s presidential election cycle. Certain individuals among those 147 Republicans cast their opposition to certifying the entirety of Biden’s win as based in hope for more scrutiny of the election results, which is ridiculous — in every single state, the election results already underwent comprehensive scrutiny.
NOTE: Rather than acting in response to their votes against certifying Biden’s win, Pelosi later explained that she rejected Jordan and Banks in response to other behavior from the two of them that made it “ridiculous” to have them on the riot investigation committee. Watch her comments on the matter below:
Pelosi explains her decision to exclude Jim Jordan and Jim Banks from the Jan. 6 probe:
– Says the election certification vote didn’t play a role
– Cites “ridiculous” statements and actions by those two pic.twitter.com/WcNLFz0iWr— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) July 22, 2021
(Original article continues here.) Meanwhile, Pelosi added as follows:
‘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 House committee that’s been set up to investigate the riot is set to have a public hearing next week featuring testimony from four officers local to the Capitol, including two members of the Capitol Police. D.C. officer Michael Fanone, who’s been particularly outspoken about injuries that he suffered at the hands of Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol in January, will also be among those present. While defending the premises, Fanone was dragged by supporters of the then-president away from a group of officers, beaten, and repeatedly tased at the base of his skull.
