Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy must navigate a politically dangerous path in response to a new House panel tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
McCarthy — a California Republican and ally of former President Donald Trump, who could also be called as a witness — hasn’t indicated whether he’ll appoint lawmakers to fill the five designated GOP seats on the committee. McCarthy’s selection may not even matter. Pelosi, a Democrat, has built-in authority to veto any of his picks.
Pelosi has already moved to outmaneuver the GOP politically by appointing Republican and former GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney to serve in one of the eight seats assigned to Democrats.
Cheney is a staunch Trump foe and was among a handful of Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on the charge he incited the Jan. 6 riot. Cheney has also publicly clashed with McCarthy, mainly over Trump’s role in the party, and it was McCarthy who helped push her out of the leadership in a vote earlier this year.
McCarthy’s decision is also complicated by his own role as a possible witness. McCarthy held a tense phone call with Trump on the day of the riot and, according to a GOP witness, asked Trump to call off the protesters who stormed the building to block Congress from President Joe Biden’s certification. Trump allegedly brushed off the request and suggested McCarthy should divert his concerns to the election the former president claimed was rigged.
Trump opposes any GOP participation in a Congress-led inquiry, calling on both McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, to “get much tougher and much smarter, and stop being used by the Radical Left.”
McCarthy has so far remained silent on what he plans to do about the GOP vacancies on the riot committee. Still, in a recent interview with reporters, he signaled he clearly does not relish the decision he’ll have to make.
When reporters asked McCarthy if appointing his own GOP members to the panel would be “in his political interest,” the California Republican responded, “You think it’s in my interest that she is playing a political game?”
Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois were the only two GOP lawmakers to vote for the committee’s creation. But among those who voted against it, there is division about Trump and his role in inciting the riot. About three dozen lawmakers voted earlier this year to create an independent, bipartisan commission to examine the riot, but the Senate GOP blocked it.
If McCarthy decides to appoint members to Pelosi’s committee, he will have to select lawmakers carefully who can credibly represent the GOP while defending the party and Trump against Democrats, who are likely to use the panel as a political weapon.
The panel is tasked with producing a report about the attack with no deadline, which means the committee’s work could stretch well into the 2022 midterm elections that GOP lawmakers hope will be their opportunity to reclaim the House majority Democrats now control by a slim margin.
While Democrats initially talked of investigating the riot more broadly and in concert with an investigation of Capitol security gaps, the purpose appears to have narrowed to examining what role Trump and the GOP played in instigating the attack.
The committee’s plan was outlined recently by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and member of the panel, who confirmed it would delve into the role Democrats believe Trump and GOP members played to incite the riot or facilitate the attack.
The riot took place as the House and Senate met to certify election results from each state. Democrats have accused Republicans of facilitating the rioters.
“These are just the kinds of questions we want to answer,” Schiff told MSNBC.
McCarthy, senior GOP aides said, could fill the panel with at least some senior Republicans in the same way he appointed Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana to head the Pelosi-created COVID-19 select committee to hold Trump responsible for the spread of the coronavirus.
Pelosi appointed three former impeachment managers to serve on the Jan. 6 riot committee. In addition to Schiff, they include Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Jason Crowe of Colorado.
Democrats are demanding Pelosi block McCarthy from seating any of the 147 Republicans who voted against certifying election results on Jan. 6.
But Pelosi’s own Democratic picks, Jamie Raskin and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, voted against certifying GOP presidential victories.
Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, objected to the certification of Trump’s 2016 victory.
Pelosi appointed Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, to head the select riot committee. Thompson was among 31 Democrats who objected to President George W. Bush’s 2004 election to a second term. The group back then cited election irregularities in Ohio.
But Thompson suggested lawmakers who opposed Biden’s 2020 win for similar reasons should not be seated on the panel.
McCarthy “doesn’t have to put those Republicans who demonstrated that they don’t have sound judgment on the committee, and that’s why I support in this legislation that Speaker Pelosi has ultimate decision-making authority as to what individuals will sit on this select committee,” Thompson told MSNBC.
A Republican aide said their objections raise questions “about what is a valid concern about election laws and what is not.”
