And now the Republicans are in the dark
Speaking of the January 6th Committee, can we just talk about what an idiot Kevin McCarthy is? Not that we didn’t know that. He’s screwed the pooch over and over again and its a testament to just how degraded the GOP has become that he’s the best they can do. When Mitch checks out of the Senate there won’t be anyone with any brains left. (Not that they matters to their voters. They prefer their leaders to be blithering fools.)
One by one, Republicans eviscerated the work of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, each one bemoaning the fact that the chief congressional security officials had not been subpoenaed to examine that day’s security lapses. Not interviewing these key officials was proof, they suggested, that the committee was just out to score political points against Republicans.
Finally, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) shut down that line of debate on Wednesday with some information these Republicans did not seem to know. “We have in fact interviewed precisely the people they set up as a test for the validity of our investigation,” Raskin said.
Those top security officials “didn’t need a subpoena” to testify about that horrible day’s events, Raskin said. “They came voluntarily.”
The moment served as a reminder for Republicans that they have no insight into this powerful committee’s inner workings.
Without knowing precisely what the committee is doing and who it is talking to, Republicans have struggled to prepare lines of defense for former president Donald Trump. Even more important to their own personal interests, dozens of GOP lawmakers are left in the dark about what evidence the committee has collected involving their own contacts with Trump and his senior advisers in the run up to, and during, the attack on the Capitol.
Republicans have refrained from second-guessing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), publicly supporting his decision to pull out entirely from the Jan. 6 panel’s work once House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected two of his initial five choices for the committee. Pelosi broke all precedent in that move, as the majority and minority party have traditionally always picked their own slates for congressional committees.
McCarthy’s picks included three members who voted against certifying President Biden’s victory: Reps. Jim Banks (Ind.), Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Troy E. Nehls (Tex.). His other two picks — Rep. Kelly Armstrong (N.D.) and Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) — voted to certify Biden’s clear victory.Advertisement
Pelosi rejected Jordan and Banks without ever giving a full explanation. Jordan has publicly discussed that he was in contact with Trump on Jan. 6 and, some believe, should be a fact witness in the probe, not an investigator.
In their places, Pelosi selected two GOP exiles who broke sharply against Trump, Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), giving the committee a bipartisan veneer.
McCarthy then decided none of his chosen members would serve on the committee.
“Could you have made an argument that we should have submitted a second set of names? Possibly,” said Armstrong. But replacing the two staunch conservatives aligned with Trump would have set a bad precedent that silenced conservative voters, she said.
“I think what you are really doing is you are allowing the majority to silence entire constituencies,” Armstrong said.
This was after the GOP refused to go along with the Select Committee that had been worked out between Republicans and Democrats which would have given the GOP members equal power and was required to end by last year! They just couldn’t take yes for an answer, one of those patented Tea Party moves that ensures they never get anything they really want.
But hey, Trump’s theme song is “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and it’s clear he’s all they think they need.