A last-hour attempt to seat Republican members on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Jan. 6 Select Committee was quickly rebuffed by Democrats on Monday night.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., introduced a privileged resolution demanding his five designees be allowed to serve on the Jan. 6 committee on the House floor Monday night.
The motion was immediately tabled by Democrats and anti-Trump GOP Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who were both added to Pelosi’s panel that also includes seven anti-Trump Democrats.
The vote to table McCarthy’s motion 218-197, which was all 216 Democrats in the chamber along with just Cheney and Kinzinger.
“For the first known time in the history of the House, the speaker of the House rejected two of the minority leader’s nominees to a select committee,” McCarthy’s resolution read. “Speaker’s Pelosi’s own press office acknowledged that this was an ‘unprecedented decision.’
“Speaker Pelosi’s refusal to seat all five Republican members directly harms the legitimacy, credibility, and integrity of the select committee.”
Speaker Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy’s selections, Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind. and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Leader McCarthy had pulled all his selections and said that his party would not participate in the process unless the speaker reversed her decision.
Pelosi had talked about adding Reps. Rodney Davis,R-Ill., Troy Nehls, R-Texas, and Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D. She deemed them acceptable, but it was unlikely they would break from their party leadership as Cheney and Kinzinger did.
Those latter two also voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for incitement to insurrection after the president left office.
McCarthy rebuked Cheney and Kinzinger as “Pelosi Republicans” earlier Monday.
In a statement Sunday, McCarthy said Pelosi’s decision to reject his picks and appoint members “who share her preconceived narrative will not yield a serious investigation” and is intended “to satisfy her political objectives.”
Pelosi’s Jan. 6 Select Committee is set to first hear from four law enforcement officers about defending the storming of the Capitol to protest certifying the Electoral College vote Trump had said was tainted by allegations election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
The hearing will start at 9:30 a.m. ET with opening statements from Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. – the chair of the select committee – and Cheney.
Via Newsmax