Top Republicans are making an effort to turn the tables on the select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 riot ahead of the investigative panel’s first hearing by taking aim at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“We had many failures within the leadership” on and in the lead-up to Jan. 6, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said. House Administration Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren “did not come to the Capitol for more than six months,” he said.
Minority Whip Steve Scalise said that Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio, who McCarthy recommended for the committee but Pelosi rejected, were “canceled by this new cancel culture” because they raised “some very tough questions” about Pelosi.
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“In December of 2020, Nancy Pelosi was made aware of potential security threats to the Capitol, and she failed to act,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 House Republican.
Reps. Rodney Davis of Illinois and Troy Nehls of Texas, two other representatives who would have sat on the select committee, had McCarthy not pulled all his picks following Pelosi’s rejection, dug in on the role of House sergeant-at-arms Paul Irving,
They and McCarthy highlighted a note that Irving passed to Pelosi to request National Guard presence in the midst of the attack.
“Why would your first response be, ‘I’ve got to get a note to the speaker to see if it’s OK if I can do my job to protect the men and women on the line?” McCarthy said. “How many meetings that they have with the speaker’s office for the preparation?”
“Sergeant-at-arms Paul Irving has been uncooperative with the committee. He won’t share phone records. He won’t turn over emails. What is he hiding?” said Nehls, one of the Republicans who was set to sit on the committee. “What is Speaker Pelosi hiding?”
Pelosi’s office has repeatedly denied that she had any previous conversations with Irving about beefing up security for Jan. 6. Capitol security is not only the responsibility of the speaker. The Senate sergeant-at-arms, who was controlled by then-Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, also has a role, and much of the responsibility is delegated to the Capitol Police.
Pelosi appointed two notorious critics of former President Donald Trump, who are essentially estranged from their party, to sit on the committee: Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
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On Monday, McCarthy made a last-ditch effort to seat the five Republicans he originally recommended for the committee with a privileged resolution that would condemn Pelosi’s refusal to seat two of his picks and urge all five of them to be seated. The attempt was blocked by Democrats, who were joined by Cheney and Kinzinger.
Cheney is set to take a starring role in the select committee hearing on Tuesday morning by delivering an opening statement in the body’s first public meeting. The committee will hear testimony from four police officers who defended the Capitol during the attack, and it will also feature video from violent clashes throughout the day.
