McCarthy pulls five Republicans off Capitol attack panel after Pelosi rejects two | US Capitol attack

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House Speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, announced Wednesday that she will veto two top Republicans appointed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on the new select committee to investigate the Capitol attack, saying that Trump-aligned members of Congress could They threaten the integrity of the investigation.

But the move prompted McCarthy to withdraw the five Republicans he chose from the committee if Pelosi did not nominate the entire group—and he threatened to launch their own investigation into the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

With Pelosi refusing to back down and saying the committee would go ahead, the disapproving Republicans said they considered she rejected all five.

The actions of Republican House Minority Leader Liz Cheney, the only Republican appointed by Pelosi to the committee, and thus not one of the five that McCarthy actually withdrew, to stand on the steps of the Capitol Wednesday afternoon and denounce his actions as “despicable.” and shameful.”

Liz Cheney on the January 6 Select Committee: “This investigation must move forward. The idea that anyone would play politics with an attack on the United States Capitol is despicable and disgraceful.”

– Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 21, 2021

Cheney also accused McCarthy of trying to “prevent” Americans from learning the truth about how the Capitol attack happened.

The American people deserve to know what happened. The people who did this must be held accountable, she said, and it must be a sober and up-to-the-fact investigation,” adding that “however, the minority leader at every turn tried to convince people not to know what had happened.”

Pelosi had earlier controversially appointed Cheney to the committee along with seven Democrats.

Pelosi said in a statement that she had rejected Republican Jim Banks and Jim Jordan from the committee because of their statements that detracted from the investigation and their relations with Donald Trump, who will be the subject of the select committee’s investigation.

Pelosi said her move was an unprecedented but necessary step given the gravity of the Select Committee’s investigation on January 6, when supporters of the former president stormed the Capitol in a violent rebellion that left five dead and about 140 wounded.

“I must reject the recommendations of the bank and Jordan representatives to the select committee,” Pelosi said. “The unprecedented nature of January 6 demands this unprecedented decision.”

The move also demonstrated Pelosi’s far-reaching and unilateral authority to guide the course of the investigation. Pelosi made her decision after consulting with her leadership team and selecting the committee, according to a source familiar with the matter.

McCarthy had included Banks and Jordan – both outspoken Trump allies who voted against ratifying Joe Biden’s election victory – among his picks on Monday, foreshadowing a bitter partisan fight over the direction of the investigation.

The top Republican in the House criticized her move, calling it a “blatant abuse of power” that would “do irreparable damage to this institution.”

“This commission has lost legitimacy and credibility and shows that the speaker is more interested in playing politics than in seeking the truth,” McCarthy said. “Republicans will not be a party to their fictitious process and will instead continue our own investigation of the facts.”

However, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the Republican named by Pelosi to serve on the select committee after she criticized Jordan in the House of Representatives on Jan. 6 and blamed him for the attack, told reporters she supported Pelosi’s decision.

“I agree with what the speaker did,” she said.

The source said that Pelosi’s decision to ban the duo from serving on the select committee came after a series of calls between Pelosi and her leadership team and the Democratic caucus on Tuesday morning.

The source said House Democrats are outraged by Banks’ appointment in part because of a statement Monday night inexplicably blaming the Biden administration for its response to the January 6 attack, which occurred during the Trump administration.

Banks also angered Pelosi and House Democrats after he arranged a trip for House Republicans to join Trump at a recent event on the southern border alongside someone who participated in the same Capitol attack.

The source said Pelosi also expressed deep concern about Jordan’s choice, particularly given that he may have spoken to Trump when rioters stormed the Capitol and belittled attempts to investigate the deadliest attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812.

The select committee chair, Benny Thompson, previously told the Guardian that any conversations Trump took part in on January 6 would be investigated by the committee, raising the possibility that Jordan could end up scrutinizing his behavior.

Vivian Ho contributed reporting

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