Days after banning Republican Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio from the select committee which is "investigating" the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would appoint never-Trump GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois to the panel.
During an interview on ABC's "This Week," Pelosi said the only way the committee can "retain the confidence of the American people" is through "no partisanship."
Pelosi, who has already named Wyoming RINO Liz Cheney to the committee, took what critics say was a shot at Banks and Jordan when she added: "We have to, again, ignore the antics of those who do not want to find the truth. We will find the truth. That truth will have the confidence of the American people because it will be done patriotically and not in a partisan way."
In a Fox News Sunday interview, Banks said Pelosi is going out of her way to avoid finding the truth about the events of Jan. 6, including her own role in the breakdown of security, by keeping he and Jordan off the committee.
“Due to the rules of the United States Capitol, the power structure of the Capitol, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, has more control and authority and responsibility over the leadership of the Capitol Police than anyone else in the United States Capitol,” Banks said.
“So she doesn’t want us to ask these questions because at the end of the day, she is ultimately responsible for the breakdown of security at the capitol that happened on Jan. 6,” he said.
Jordan said Pelosi's Jan. 6 committee is "nothing more than a partisan political charade."
Following Pelosi's decision to ban Banks and Jordan from the committee, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened a Republican boycott of the committee over the "unprecedented" decision.
"Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts," McCarthy said in a statement.
McCarthy referred to Pelosi as a “lame duck speaker” who is causing permanent damage to the House by breaking decades of tradition by moving to block his appointments to the committee.
In a letter to McCarthy on Friday, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus demanded that he use his authority as minority leader to introduce a privileged resolution to remove Pelosi.
“Speaker Pelosi has no interest in representative democracy, let alone protecting institutional norms,” the Freedom Caucus wrote. “Republicans, under your leadership, must show the American people that we will act to protect our ability to represent their interests.”
McCarthy is unlikely to bring up the resolution as Democrats would easily defeat it.
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