Oops
Look who agrees with Media Matters:
It’s unclear what, exactly, makes Banks and Jordan sacrosanct “main picks,” other than their close ties to Roberts’ prime-time colleagues Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, respectively. Last year, McCarthy selected five Republican members to sit on the committee: Banks, Jordan, Rodney Davis (R-IL), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Troy Nehls (R-TX). Pelosi accepted Davis, Armstrong, and Nehls but rejected Banks and Jordan on the grounds that their support for Trump’s effort to overturn the election would compromise the investigation.
But McCarthy could have named replacements for them. Instead, he decided that his caucus would boycott the committee altogether, with news outlets reporting that this was a deliberate strategy to “make it seem like a one-sided, one-party witch hunt.”
Roberts may find those facts “fundamentally disingenuous” — but Trump himself is now making the same argument. Punchbowl News reported Wednesday that Trump had told the outlet that McCarthy erred by not selecting replacements for Banks and Jordan because now “the Republicans don’t have a voice.” The story quotes Trump saying:
“I think it would’ve been far better to have Republicans [on the panel]. [Jim Banks and Jim Jordan] were great. They were great and would’ve been great to have them. But when Pelosi wrongfully didn’t allow them, we should’ve picked other people. We have a lot of good people in the Republican Party.”
“Trump added there’s ‘not even a question’ that McCarthy should’ve put Republicans on the select committee,” Punchbowl News further reported.
It looks like somebody didn’t get the memo. Was it Roberts — or Trump?