The House committee investigating the Capitol riot is not backing down from its attempt to get information from House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), even after the prominent House Republican said he was refusing to comply with the panel. This week, investigators on the committee formally requested information from McCarthy relating to a range of topics, but they didn’t buttress their requests with a subpoena — yet. Now, however, committee leaders including chairperson Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) have insisted that a subpoena for McCarthy is an option. Thompson said that investigators would “consider” a subpoena for McCarthy. And as Cheney similarly explained things, referring to McCarthy:
‘I wish that he were a brave and honorable man… He’s clearly trying to cover up what happened. He has an obligation to come forward and we’ll get to the truth.’
Liz Cheney doesn’t rule out issuing a Jan. 6 subpoena to Kevin McCarthy, and tells @morgan_rimmer: “I wish that he were a brave and honorable man. He's clearly trying to cover up what happened. He has an obligation to come forward, and we'll get to the truth.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 13, 2022
Cheney has her own history with McCarthy — she was a high-ranking leader of House Republicans until opposition built against her stance opposing Trump’s lies to the point of Republican House members voting her out of that spot. McCarthy supported Cheney’s replacement, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), although Cheney has a documented history of support for conservative causes. McCarthy complained in his response to the riot investigation committee’s request for information that House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “took the unprecedented action of rejecting the Republican members I named to serve on the committee” — although she only rejected part of his selections, not all of them. After that point, it’s McCarthy who opted to entirely withdraw from the committee process.
Jan. 6 Committee chairman Bennie Thompson tells NBC News the panel will "consider" a subpoena for Kevin McCarthy if he does not voluntarily submit to an interview. @NBCNews
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 13, 2022
McCarthy also complained in his response to the committee that their “only objective is to attempt to damage [their] political opponents – acting like the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee one day and the DOJ the next” — which is obviously just nonsense. Characterizing Cheney as being part of some sort of fundamentally pro-Democratic Party operation is ridiculous. That’s not what this is about — the Capitol was attacked by domestic extremists, and there’s a danger of something similar happening again. Shouldn’t any credible leader be supportive of efforts to address these issues? The committee, according to its original request for information from McCarthy, wants to question him about items including his communications with the then-president around the time of the riot.
Flashback: May 20, 2021
Q: Would you be willing to testify about your conversation with Donald Trump on Jan. 6 if you were asked by an outside committee?
KEVIN McCARTHY: Sure.— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 13, 2022
Recently, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) — a member of the riot panel — raised serious concerns about what could happen in the event that Republicans win control of the House and McCarthy becomes Speaker. As Schiff observed, McCarthy “will do whatever Donald Trump wants him to do, and if Donald Trump wants him to overturn the next election because Trump loses again, McCarthy will do it, and that is a real and present threat to our democracy.”
Liz Cheney on Kevin McCarthy refusing to voluntarily testify before Jan 6 committee:
“I wish that he were a brave and honorable man"
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) January 13, 2022
