House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appoints Trump’s 2nd GOP critic to January 6 committee

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WASHINGTON (AP) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday appointed a second Republican critic of Donald Trump, Representative Adam Kinzinger, to a special committee to investigate the Capitol riot and promised that the majority Democratic panel would find out the truth. Kinzinger said he humbly accepted the nomination even as his party leadership boycotted the investigation.

As the committee is about to hold its first meeting, hearing from police officers who battled the rioters, Pelosi said it was imperative to learn what happened on January 6, when insurgents disrupted the certification by Congress of Joe Bidens’ presidential victory, and why the violent siege took place. This mission, she said, must be pursued in a bipartisan fashion to ensure that such an attack can never happen again.

Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, will bring great patriotism to the committees’ mission: to find the facts and protect our democracy, she said in a statement.

He joins Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming as two Republican committees, both selected by the leader of the opposition party. Kinzinger and Cheney were among 10 House Republicans to vote for Trump’s second impeachment. They were the only two Republicans to vote last month to form the special committee.

For months, lies and conspiracy theories have been spread threatening our autonomy, Kinzinger said in a statement. For months, I have said that the American people deserve transparency and the truth about how and why thousands of people have come forward to attack our democracy.

I will work diligently to ensure that we get the truth and that those responsible for the attack are fully responsible, he said.

Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy has said the GOP will not participate after Pelosi, D-Calif., Refused to accept two of the members he chose.

McCarthy, R-Calif., Said the committee was a fictitious process and withdrew its five members when Pelosi dismissed two of them, Reps Jim Banks from Indiana and Jim Jordan from Ohio. Both voted Jan.6 against certifying Bidens’ electoral victory over Trump and both are outspoken allies of the former president.

In a statement released on Sunday, McCarthy said Pelosis’s decision to reject his choices and appoint members who share his preconceived narrative will not lead to serious investigation and is aimed at meeting his political goals.

Kinzinger and Cheney blamed Trump for starting the insurgency with his consistently false claims that the 2020 election was stolen due to voter fraud.

In recent weeks, Kinzinger has suggested he would be open to serving on the committee, despite threats from McCarthy that Republicans who accept a spot could be stripped of their regular committee missions in retaliation for participating.

Clearly Pelosi only wants members of this committee who stick to his talking points and stick to his narrative. That’s why she picked the group she’s already picked, Banks told Fox News on Sunday. He said anyone she asks to be on this committee, from now on, will be glued to her – her story, from her perspective. There will be no other side.

The House voted in May to create an independent inquiry that would have been evenly split between the parties, but Senate Republicans blocked that approach. Pelosi said the new panel was only created because a bipartisan commission was no longer an option.

Currently, Cheney sits on the committee with seven Democrats, making sure they have a quorum to proceed whether or not other Republicans participate.

Pelosi expressed confidence that the work of the committees will be seen as bipartisan and credible even with McCarthy’s efforts to boycott the panel.

We must, once again, ignore the antics of those who do not want to find the truth, she said. We will find the truth. This truth will have the confidence of the American people because it will be done in a patriotic and non-partisan way.

Seven people died during and after the riots, including a woman who was shot dead by police as she tried to break into the House bedroom and three other Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that followed, and a third officer, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and later died after engaging with protesters. A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.

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