Wyoming RINO Rep. Liz Cheney has accepted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's nomination to the panel that is launching an inquisition into the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.
House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy called Cheney's acceptance of Pelosi's offer "unprecedented" and "shocking." McCarthy suggested that Cheney might be "closer" to Pelosi than the GOP conference at this point.
"Let me be clear: I'm not threatening anybody with committee assignments," McCarthy said during a Thursday news conference. "What I'm saying is it was shocking to me that if a person is a Republican, they get their committee assignments from the Republican conference. For someone to accept committee assignments from Speaker Pelosi, that's unprecedented."
Asked whether Cheney has effectively left the GOP conference, McCarthy replied: "I was shocked she would accept something from Speaker Pelosi. It would seem to me, since I didn't hear from her, maybe she's closer to her than us, I don't know."
Democrats have named the panel the "Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol".
Washington Examiner columnist Byron York noted that a more appropriate name for the panel would be the "Get-Trump Committee."
"Even before the investigation begins, the chairman of the committee, Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, has already found all the facts he needs to find former President Donald Trump guilty of incitement. We know because Thompson has said so, over and over again, in a lawsuit blaming Trump for the riot," York wrote in a July 2 op-ed.
York noted that Thompson had in February, acting in his personal capacity, filed suit against former President Donald Trump, presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and the groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
"Whatever its title, the suit is about Trump; the other defendants are just supporting players," York wrote. "Trump is named 126 times in the document, versus 40 for Giuliani, 47 for the Proud Boys, and 18 for the Oath Keepers. In other words, the suit is about Trump."
Now Thompson is heading up the inquisition. "He has already decided who to blame — the task now is just to formalize the verdict," York wrote.
Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs said he wasn't surprise Thompson was named to head the panel and added that he hopes Republicans won't participate.
"This isn't an investigation," Biggs told the "John Solomon Reports" podcast. "This is a witch hunt."
"Well, that Bennie's the chair doesn't surprise me, for sure," Biggs said. "He's been driving to be there. I would hope that Republicans just simply don't participate."
Biggs said of the Democrats who spoke on the House floor on Thursday in favor of the panel: "I think anybody listening would understand very clearly that this is not something, 'We want to get after the truth.' This gets to what you and I have been talking about, the failure of Democrat policies. I think this is a distraction move. I mean, if I thought it was going to be a fair thing, then I would have supported it."
He also argued that what would be "most helpful" in any Jan. 6 investigation would be the release of 14,000 hours of Capitol Building surveillance tapes.
"I want to see those," Biggs said.
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