Category: Jim Jordan

December 23, 2021

January 6 Committee Requests That Jim Jordan Speak With Them

The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack has requested that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) appear before them to answer questions regarding his communications with former President Donald Trump.

The request is voluntary, meaning that Jordan isn’t required to appear by a subpoena. The January 6 commission wants Jordan to speak with its investigators sometime in the first two weeks of January, either at the Capitol or in his home district.

Jordan is the second member of the House of Representatives who has been asked to speak before the panel. Earlier this week, the commission asked Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) to give a voluntary deposition, but Perry rejected the invitation.

Jordan, the ranking Republican member on the House Judiciary Committee, is a staunch Trump ally who was initially chosen by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) to serve on the January 6 commission, along with fellow Trump ally Rep. Jim Baker (R-Indiana). But Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) rejected both of the lawmakers for spreading disinformation about the Capitol attack.

“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,” Pelosi said in July.

In a letter sent to Jordan this week, commission chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) noted that Jordan was in constant communication with Trump in the months after the 2020 presidential election and on the day of the January 6 Capitol breach.

“We understand that you had at least one and possibly multiple communications with President Trump on January 6th. We would like to discuss each such communication with you in detail,” Thompson said, adding that the commission is also interested in communications from the day before the attack.

The commission is also seeking information about Jordan’s communications with Trump during the interim period between Election Day and January 6 — specifically discussions about overturning Trump’s election loss to President Joe Biden.

“Public reporting suggests that you may also have information about meetings with White House officials and the then-President in November and December 2020, and early-January 2021, about strategies for overturning the results of the 2020 election,” Thompson wrote.

Jordan has been inconsistent about how often he spoke with Trump on January 6, refusing to give straight answers to the question in television interviews. In July, shortly after Pelosi rejected him from serving on the commission, Jordan was asked in a Fox News interview whether he spoke with Trump on the day of the attack.

“Yes,” Jordan immediately responded. “I mean I’ve talked to the president so many, I can’t remember all the days I have talked to him, but I have certainly talked to the president.”

In the months after that interview, Jordan continued to waffle on the answer. In an interview in August, he said he spoke with Trump “more than once” on the day the Capitol was attacked. In a House Rules Committee hearing in October, however, Jordan said he only “may have talked to him.”

In November, Jordan was asked directly whether he would cooperate with the January 6 commission should they ask to speak with him.

“Depends on what it is [they want to talk about],” Jordan said. “I’m not going to answer hypothetical questions, but I just think this is a complete sham, what these guys are doing.”

This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
December 16, 2021

Jim Jordan Confirms He Wrote Text to Meadows Promoting Electoral College Scheme

On Wednesday, the office of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) confirmed that he was one of the lawmakers who texted Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows regarding a scheme to subvert the January 6 certification of the Electoral College.

The text message was shared by the January 6 commission this week as evidence to justify a House vote to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress. Although the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack has been seeking more information about text messages to and from Meadows – including the message from Jordan – the former chief of staff has so far refused to testify about the messages, even though he was the one who provided the documents to the commission.

Jordan’s office has maintained that the message he sent to Meadows was a forwarded one, saying that Meadows “certainly knew” this was the case. But as NBC News reported, some smartphones don’t indicate if a sent message is a forward.

The text from Jordan to Meadows encouraged him to adopt a plan to invalidate Electoral College votes from states Biden won, saying that he should use false claims of election fraud as a basis for doing so.

“On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all — in accordance with guidance from founding father Alexander Hamilton and judicial precedence,” Jordan’s text read. The text then quotes Hamilton’s commentary from Federalist 78, which says that “No legislative act contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.”

“Following this rationale, an unconstitutionally appointed elector, like an unconstitutionally enacted statute, is no elector at all,” the text from Jordan concluded.

There is no evidence that electors for the Electoral College were “unconstitutionally appointed” — and according to rules outlined in the constitution, the vice president of the United States doesn’t have the authority to invalidate electors.

Politico reporters Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu, who were the first to report that Jordan sent the text, said the context of the message was still unclear.

“Why did Jordan forward this analysis to Meadows? Was it something the former chief of staff solicited? Or did Jordan send it unprompted?” the journalists asked.

Jordan’s involvement in the plan to overturn the election results is significant, especially because he was initially nominated by House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) to serve on the January 6 commission. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) rejected Jordan’s nomination on the basis that he was untrustworthy.

Days after he was rejected by Pelosi to serve on the commission, Jordan admitted that he had been in contact with Trump on the day a mob of Trump loyalists attacked the Capitol building.

In light of the texts that the commission released this week — and the revelation that Jordan sent one of the messages — journalists are questioning the extent of McCarthy’s knowledge about Jordan’s involvement in the scheme to thwart the will of the American electorate.

“Does anyone still think Jim Jordan should have served on the Jan 6 committee? Did Kevin McCarthy know about Jordan’s activities to overthrow the election when he tried to put him on the committee investigating all this?” asked journalist Elizabeth Vargas.

This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
September 1, 2021

McCarthy Threatens Retaliation Against Telecoms That Comply With Jan 6 Committee

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) on Tuesday may have broken the law when he issued a threat to telecommunications companies that comply with a request by the January 6 committee to preserve and potentially turn over call records relating to the attack, including those of members of Congress.

McCarthy called out Democrats like January 6 committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), claiming that the committee’s request was an attempt to “strong-arm” communications companies.

He also dubiously claimed that it would be illegal for the companies to comply with the government request, leaving them with a threat. “[A] Republican majority will not forget and will stand with Americans to hold them fully accountable under the law,” he wrote. His office has failed to produce a specific law that the companies’ compliance would violate.

Legal experts disagree with McCarthy’s claim. CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen said Wednesday that “no, there is no law” that the telecommunications companies would be breaking. In fact, Eisen said, it would be illegal if the telecommunications companies destroyed the records or refused to turn them over, as McCarthy suggested they do.

“This is absolutely unjustified by [the] law and it raises serious questions under the House ethics rules,” Eisen said. “It meets the elements of obstruction. It’s a threat. It’s an attempt to stop them, through that threat, from turning over documents. It’s self-motivated, it’s corrupt. McCarthy is worried about what may be in those records on him.”

Democrats are also alarmed about McCarthy’s threat. “I see it as clear obstruction of justice,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California) told The Washington Post. Swalwell said that officials should consider referring McCarthy’s threat to the Department of Justice. “He’s telling the telecommunications companies to not honor a lawful subpoena, or there could be some penalty down the line,” Swalwell continued.

While it is known that McCarthy had a call with President Donald Trump on January 6, there is little information on the content of that call. And though nearly eight months have passed since the attack, McCarthy has remained guarded about what he discussed with Trump that day.

The records, which the committee began seeking last week, may shine a light on his fellow Republicans lawmakers too. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) also had a phone call with Trump that day; other lawmakers like Representatives Mo Brooks (R-Alabama) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) have been accused of collaborating with members of the far right in planning the attack.

A spokesperson for the committee said that the group is not fazed by McCarthy’s threat. “The Select Committee is investigating the violent attack on the Capitol and attempt to overturn the results of last year’s election,” the spokesperson said in a statement, per Politico. “We’ve asked companies not to destroy records that may help answer questions for the American people. The committee’s efforts won’t be deterred by those who want to whitewash or cover up the events of January 6th, or obstruct our investigation.”

Republicans have spent the last several months downplaying the violent attempt — which resulted in the death of seven people — to get Congress to reinstate Trump against the will of the voters. The party’s motivations, meanwhile, have remained relatively clear: to obstruct the investigation by every means possible. Trump last week also tried to prevent communications logs related to January 6 from coming out after the committee requested documents from the White House.

Earlier this year, Republicans struck down a bill that would have created a bipartisan January 6 commission, even after Democrats had made several concessions to get them on board. Then, McCarthy attempted to sabotage the House committee, picking questionable figures like avid Trump supporter Rep. Jordan who was fully behind the attempt to overthrow the election results to investigate the attack.

This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
August 24, 2021

Committee Seeks January 6 Phone Records of Lawmakers With Possible Ties to Mob

The House committee tasked with investigating the events leading up to and during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 has announced that its members are seeking phone records of several key figures in the attack, including those of some members of Congress.

The committee plans to send letters to telecommunications companies this week to preserve relevant records, as first reported by CNN. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), the committee chairman, says that he hopes to issue subpoenas by the end of the month.

“I won’t give you the names [of the companies]. But, you know, in terms of telecom companies, they’re the ones that pretty much you already know, maybe the networks, the social media platforms, those kinds of things,” Thompson told reporters, per Politico. “We’ll look at all records at some point. It won’t be tomorrow.”

If the companies don’t comply with the voluntary order by the committee, then the committee will order subpoenas for the information, Thompson said. The group is seeking records on several hundred people, according to the lawmaker, including several members of Congress.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the committee may also be looking to obtain phone records from the White House from January 6. It’s still unclear whether or not the committee will be doing so.

Asking companies to preserve phone records could lead the investigatory process toward witness testimony later on, writes CNN. With members of Congress potentially implicated, the committee’s phone record probe could lead to dramatic revelations about politicians’ ties to the attack.

Several lawmakers’ names have been raised in connection with the Donald Trump-sponsored attempted coup over the past months. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) both talked on the phone with Trump on the day that the violent right-wing mob breached the Capitol.

Jordan and McCarthy have been evasive about the substance of their conversations with Trump. Minority Leader McCarthy also recruited Jordan to help him sabotage the January 6 committee, back when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) was seeking input from McCarthy on committee members. The California Republican did so after weeks of reports saying that he may be one of the members subpoenaed to testify before the committee.

There could also be some not-so-obvious members of Congress whose deeds surrounding the attack may come to light. Representatives Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) and Mo Brooks (R-Alabama) were named by one of the organizers of the “Stop the Steal” movement for helping him coordinate the attack. Though Rep. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) has managed to stay out of the spotlight in the past months, he also received a call from Trump as the mob breached the Capitol.

Some members have also been accused of leading “reconnaissance” tours for the attackers to show them the layout and inner workings of the Capitol. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) is one such member who was seen leading a large group of visitors in a tunnel that leads to the Capitol several days before the attack.

It’s still unclear which members of Congress will be subject to the probe by the committee, but the results could be illuminating. The first hearing held by the committee confirmed the violence and the fear it engendered that day. Information from the phone records could help shed light on those responsible for organizing the violent uprising that day.

This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
August 9, 2021

Commission on Capitol Attack Contemplates Requesting Jan 6 Trump Call Logs

The select committee in the House of Representatives examining the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building is contemplating whether to pursue White House call logs from that day.

The call logs could reveal who communicated with former President Donald Trump on the day that a mob of his loyalists attacked the U.S. Capitol following an incendiary speech delivered by Trump.

The January 6 commission is discussing the possibility of obtaining call logs with the Biden administration, according to reporting from CNN, citing two sources with knowledge of those talks. It’s unclear whether the Biden White House will agree to release the logs, however, as it would set a precedent that undermines the ability of the president to keep these conversations private.

Federal regulations allow Trump to assert executive privilege on those call logs, even though he’s out of office. Those same regulations, however, allow President Joe Biden to overrule Trump’s privilege claims.

A request for call logs involves a negotiation between the White House and whoever is asking for them, initially through an informal discussion. If that process breaks down, subpoenas may come next, and if the White House still objects, the issue may go to the courts.

Although it’s uncertain whether the Biden administration would cooperate with a request for the call logs, the administration has indicated it is willing to forego executive privilege for Trump on other fronts.

About two weeks ago, the Department of Justice (DOJ) notified former Trump administration officials that it “would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege” regarding their communications with Trump, his adviser, or others “on matters related to the committee’s proposed interviews.” Those officials, in other words, are able to testify voluntarily if they want, or be compelled to do so if subpoenaed, to various congressional committees, including the January 6 commission, on what was discussed in the White House regarding that day’s events.

The call logs could be relevant for determining who the commission might want to interview regarding Trump’s thinking the day Congress was attacked by his loyalists. The logs could include members of Congress and loyalists to the former president who spoke with him about the attack as it was happening.

Trump is known to have spoken with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on January 6. According to other lawmakers knowledgeable of their conversation that day, the two had a terse back-and-forth discussion over the phone, exchanging expletives at one another while the events were unfolding.

According to reports on those conversations, McCarthy had allegedly called Trump to get him to call off the mob. Trump initially refused to acknowledge they were his supporters, falsely telling McCarthy they were supporters of the antifa movement.

When McCarthy corrected him, Trump reportedly said, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”

It’s also likely that Trump spoke to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), an ardent supporter of the former president whom McCarthy had tried to name to the select committee before being blocked by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California). Jordan admitted late last month that he, too, had conversations with Trump on January 6.

It is entirely possible that McCarthy, Jordan and other lawmakers could be subpoenaed to testify about conversations with Trump that took place on January 6. Commission chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) said in an interview with The Guardian in July that “nothing is off limits” when it came to securing such testimonies.

“If somebody spoke to the president on January 6, I think it would be important for our committee to know what was said,” Thompson explained. “I can’t imagine you talk about anything else to the president on January 6.”

This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
July 28, 2021

Jim Jordan Admits on Fox News That He Spoke to Trump on January 6

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump who was recently rejected by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) from serving on a commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, seemingly admitted to having spoken with Trump on the day the attack occurred.

Jordan made the admission on Fox News Tuesday evening, while speaking with host Bret Baier, who had asked the congressman if he had talked to Trump about the events of that day. Jordan responded by saying he has talked to Trump “umpteen times,” adding that he continued to speak with him regularly even after he left the White House.

Baier reiterated what his question was really about, and asked Jordan directly if he had talked to Trump on January 6 itself. Jordan’s response suggested he had.

“Yes,” Jordan said in response to the query. “I mean I’ve talked to the president so many, I can’t remember all the days I have talked to him, but I have certainly talked to the president.”

In a long rambling answer, Jim Jordan admits he talked to Trump on January 6th. When asked what they discussed, Jordan changes the subject to the Speaker and security posture pic.twitter.com/n6sLuudNoX

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 27, 2021

Jordan refused, however, when pressed by Baier during the interview, to say what was discussed between Trump and himself that day, or what his thinking was, and shifted his answer to wrongly blaming Pelosi for the lack of security at the Capitol that day.

Still, the comments from Jordan on Fox News Tuesday could result in him becoming a witness in the January 6 commission. Speaking to The Guardian last week about the commission’s work, committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) said that investigating Trump is “absolutely” a possibility, adding that “nothing is off limits” when it comes to the commission’s work to understand how the attacks on the Capitol came about.

Conversations between Trump and others on that day would be something the commission would want to know about, Thompson added.

“If somebody spoke to the president on January 6, I think it would be important for our committee to know what was said,” Thompson explained. “I can’t imagine you talk about anything else to the president on January 6.”

Anyone who spoke to Trump that day but didn’t willingly agree to testify before the commission could also be subpoenaed, Thompson said.

With Jordan admitting that he spoke to Trump on the day the Capitol breach occurred, and with it being a high possibility that the commission will want to hear what he and the former president said to one another, the decision by Pelosi to reject Jordan from serving on the commission itself seems to have been a wise one. Many would view it as improper for Jordan to have a say in the direction and scope of the committee’s work, especially if the Ohio congressman had advised Trump in some way on how to deal with his mob of loyalists attacking Congress.

Pelosi explained her decision to reject Jordan and Rep. Jim Baker (R-Indiana) for the commission on the grounds of protecting the integrity of the investigation and because the two lawmakers had failed to be truthful in their comments about the January 6 attacks.

“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,” Pelosi said last week.

Trump made a number of comments in a speech during a rally on January 6, in which he touted baseless lies about election fraud, telling his loyalists that they would “never take back our country with weakness.” He also told them to go to the Capitol after his speech to show Congress, in person, that they disagreed with the 2020 election results while Congress was in session that day to certify the Electoral College victory of Joe Biden.

Yet, in spite of the fact that most Americans believe Trump bears some responsibility for the violence that occurred that day, Jordan has erroneously said that Pelosi was to blame, alleging that she did not take proper safety precautions to protect Congress from the mob of Trump loyalists. In reality, Pelosi doesn’t have the authority to do so, as fact-checks against statements made by Jordan and others have confirmed.

This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
July 27, 2021

Having Failed to Sabotage Jan 6 Inquiry, McCarthy Is Blaming Pelosi for the Riot

Republicans in Congress opposed to the January 6 commission to investigate the attack on the United States Capitol building have apparently determined that their best course of action is to attack one of the main proponents of the commission itself, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California), errantly and bewilderingly branding her as having been responsible for the violence that occurred on that day in spite of evidence contradicting those assertions.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California), who has opposed the formation of a commission at every step of the way, tried to suggest that Pelosi had endangered the lives of workers and officers at the Capitol on the day that a mob of loyalists to former President Donald Trump attempted to interrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

“On January 6 these brave officers were put into a vulnerable and impossible position because the leadership at the top failed,” McCarthy said speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, falsely implying that it was Pelosi’s responsibility to secure the Capitol.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a Trump loyalist whom McCarthy tried to nominate to the commission but who was blocked by Pelosi over his lack of integrity, also suggested Pelosi was largely to blame for that day’s events.

“Why don’t they want to answer the fundamental question, which is why wasn’t there a better security posture on that day?” Jordan asked.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Indiana), who was also blocked by Pelosi from the commission, expressed distrust of the inquiry, and also implied Pelosi was to blame for what happened on January 6.

Any word that comes out of committee members’ mouths — including those of Republican members taking part — are “scripted by Nancy Pelosi, to talk about her narrative without looking at other narratives along the way, like why was the Capitol vulnerable to begin with,” Banks said.

On Fox News, Rep. Jim Banks shrugs off today's January 6 hearing as "scripted by Nancy Pelosi" pic.twitter.com/YJfVTi3Qkj

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 27, 2021

The sentiments of those GOP lawmakers and others largely echo what Trump himself has said about the commission. In a statement he published on his campaign website, Trump, who in other situations has downplayed the violence and described his mob of loyalists as “loving” on that day, said that the commission ought to investigate Pelosi herself over what went down.

“Nancy Pelosi is spending a great deal of time, effort, and money on the formulation of a Fake and highly partisan January 6 Committee to ask, what happened?’” Trump said in his statement. “Will Nancy investigate herself and those on Capitol Hill who didn’t want additional protection, including more police and National Guard, therefore being unprepared despite the large crowd of people that everyone knew was coming?”

The commission, which is bipartisan, will likely question why the National Guard wasn’t deployed sooner to secure the Capitol on January 6. However, it’s unlikely that Pelosi will be blamed for such inaction, as the National Guard can only be called up by governors of the states in which they reside, or by the president. Pelosi, as Speaker of the House, has no authority to call them into the Capitol building, in the event of violent attacks or other unrest.

The insinuations by Trump and Republicans in Congress who are loyal to the former president, suggesting that Pelosi played a role in the violence of that day, also contradict who is in charge of security at the Capitol. Oversight of the Capitol Police is managed by a Capitol Police Board, which is run by various committees in the Senate and House of Representatives. Pelosi is not a member of any committee or board that has oversight over Capitol Police.

Pelosi’s press office, responding to the false allegations from McCarthy and other congressional Republicans on Tuesday, decried their attempts to “undermine and prevent a real investigation into the events of January 6th.”

“Now that the bipartisan Select Committee is beginning its work, the only tools left in House Republican’s arsenal are deflection, distortion, and disinformation,” Pelosi’s office said in a statement responding to McCarthy, adding that “every single lie uttered by the Republicans this morning has been debunked time and again.”

This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
July 23, 2021

Pelosi Pledges to Move Forward on Jan 6 Commission, With or Without GOP Support

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced on Thursday that the commission set to investigate what led up to the attack on the United States Capitol building on January 6 would move forward, with or without the cooperation of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Pelosi described the investigation into the attack on the Capitol building, which occurred following weeks of former President Donald Trump making false claims that there was fraud involved in the 2020 election, as “deadly serious” work. Trump told his loyalists to go directly to the Capitol in a rally preceding the attack on January 6.

But McCarthy has threatened to not take part in the investigation process. Per the rules established in the formation of the commission, McCarthy is allowed to name five members to serve on the committee, with consultation and approval from Pelosi. Among the five members McCarthy named, Pelosi rejected two of them, Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks — two staunch supporters of former President Donald Trump who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential race on the same day as the Capitol attack, one of whom has wrongly suggested that Pelosi herself was responsible for the violence on January 6.

In response to the speaker rejecting two of his picks, McCarthy withdrew the remaining three members he had chosen (who Pelosi had accepted) out of protest, calling her decision an “egregious abuse of power.” He also threatened to remove himself and Republicans from the process altogether, unless Pelosi acquiesces to letting those picks serve on the commission.

The speaker defended her choice to remove the two Republicans.

Jordan and Banks, Pelosi explained to reporters on Thursday, “had made statements and taken actions that I think would impact the integrity of the Committee, the work of the Committee.”

Pelosi further explained, “It’s about our Constitution, our country. It’s about an assault on the Capitol that’s being mischaracterized for some reason at the expense, at the expense of finding the truth for the American people.”

The speaker affirmed that Republican opposition would not prevent her from moving the commission forward.

“It is my responsibility as the speaker of the House to make sure we get to the truth of this,” Pelosi added, “and we will not let their antics stand in the way of that.”

Pelosi has the power to add more Republican members to the committee if the Minority Leader chooses not to take part. Some Democrats say that doing so may give the commission more weight and an appearance of bipartisanship when it makes its final findings.

Most voters in the U.S. seem to agree on the need to form a commission. A recent CBS News/YouGov poll published this week shows that 72 percent of Americans believe there is more to be learned about when it comes to how the attacks transpired on January 6. Just 28 percent disagree, saying we already know all there is to know about the attacks.

Republicans’ reticence to examine the Capitol attack may be linked to the fact that most Americans also believe that they and Trump were both at least partially responsible for what transpired. A Morning Consult poll from late June found that 61 percent of Americans believed Trump was responsible for the events on January 6, while 50 percent of respondents in the poll said Republicans were also responsible.

This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
July 21, 2021

McCarthy Pulls Out of Jan. 6 Committee After Pelosi Nixes Trump-Allied Picks

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) has withdrawn all five of his picks from the committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The decision comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) rejected two of his picks, citing a need to protect the “integrity” of the investigation of the deadly attack.

Pelosi nixed Representatives Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jim Banks (R-Indiana) from the committee on Wednesday. Both representatives had voted against certifying the election results in January directly after Donald Trump supporters attacked the Capitol. They were both also part of a Texas-led lawsuit to invalidate millions of votes from swing states to favor Trump, but was swiftly shot down by the Supreme Court.

“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,” Pelosi said in a statement, emphasizing the gravity of the attack and its ramifications.

Despite the fact that Pelosi said she would accept McCarthy’s other picks of Rodney Davis (R-Illinois), Kelly Armstrong (R-North Dakota) and Troy Nehls (R-Texas), McCarthy wasn’t pleased.

In a statement, McCarthy called Pelosi’s decision an “egregious abuse of power and will irreparably damage this institution” and called the committee a “sham” even though it has been clear from the start that Pelosi had ultimate say over who was chosen. He said that, unless Pelosi capitulated to his demands and reinstated his picks, the GOP would pull out of the process.

Pelosi hasn’t responded to McCarthy’s move, and the future of the committee is unclear.

McCarthy’s picks for the committee were already causing concern, and showed that “He has zero interest in getting to the bottom of what really happened (and why) when the US Capitol was stormed by rioters convinced by former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election had been stolen from him,” wrote CNN’s Chris Cillizza.

Wednesday’s move to completely boycott the committee even further suggests that McCarthy was never interested in investigating the attack.

It’s possible, too, that gutting the committee is what he’s been angling for all along — after all, Republicans had already rejected a previous bipartisan commission proposal, and McCarthy had threatened Republican members’ committee spots if they joined that earlier version of the group. Plus, McCarthy is likely to be subpoenaed by the group for a phone call he had with Trump just as the mob was breaching the Capitol.

In picking Banks and Jordan, then, McCarthy must have known that he would be raising merited concerns with Pelosi. Especially since, almost immediately after their placement on the committee was made public, the two Republican lawmakers began making statements directly and baselessly implicating Pelosi in helping to prolong the attack on the Capitol.

Jordan suggested on Tuesday that Pelosi may have some responsibility for the magnitude of the attack and law enforcement’s failure to contain the crowd. “There’s one question that needs to be answered, and that’s why wasn’t there proper security presence that day. And that’s a question only the speaker can answer,” he told CNN, alluding to previous baseless allegations he’s made about Pelosi delaying the National Guard’s response to the attack.

Jordan is a close ally of Trump’s who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the former president in January for “[leading] the effort to confront the impeachment witch hunt.” Jordan had spearheaded the GOP attack on special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation into election interference from Russia.

The Ohio lawmaker’s intentions for the committee were also suspect. When asked about his goal for the group, Jordan deflected and took the time to attack Democrats instead on Tuesday. “You know what this is about. This is about going after President Trump. The Democrats don’t want to talk about anything else.”

Banks also implied that Pelosi had something to do with the attack over Twitter on Wednesday, saying “The question that all of us should be asking: what is Speaker Pelosi afraid of?” Like Jordan, Banks also attacked Democrats in a statement about his participation in the committee on Monday night, shortly after the committee picks were announced.

This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
July 20, 2021

Majority of McCarthy’s January 6 Commission Picks Voted to Overturn Election

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) has chosen five Republican members to serve on the select committee to investigate the attack on the Capitol on January 6 — and a majority of those chosen are people who voted to overturn the election on that day.

Under the rules of the committee set by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), McCarthy is allowed to choose five Republicans for the 13-member committee. This is similar to Pelosi’s original proposal to form the commission, with Democrats making up a majority of the group. A subsequent bipartisan proposal for the commission, meanwhile, had a 50-50 split between the parties but was blocked by Republicans, despite several concessions from the Democrats.

McCarthy chose Republican Representatives Jim Banks (Indiana), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Rodney Davis (Illinois), Kelly Armstrong (North Dakota) and Troy Nehls (Texas) to serve on the committee. Of those picks, Banks, Jordan and Nehls were among the 147 Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying the electoral college results on the day that the deadly attack on the Capitol occured, encouraged by President Trump.

The picks, McCarthy said, represent a range of viewpoints from his caucus, including people who did and didn’t object to the electoral results. But those who had voted to overturn the election, even after enduring a horrific day full of close calls and existential fear, may not be the best representatives to navigate and probe the horrors of the day.

Indeed, Jordan has already downplayed the events of January 6. When asked about the GOP’s goals on the committee, he told CNN, “You know what this is about. This is about going after President [Donald] Trump. The Democrats don’t want to talk about anything else.”

Jordan, the most high-profile member of the group, is a staunch ally of Trump. He and Banks were part of a group of Republicans who signed onto a Texas lawsuit in December that aimed to block electors from crucial swing states, invalidating the votes of millions to give the election to Trump. That lawsuit, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, was shot down by the Supreme Court.

Jordan is also a questionable choice on the basis of the statements he has made about the January 6 attack alone. The Ohio lawmaker has spread misinformation online about Pelosi’s actions that day, saying that the speaker denied a Capitol Police request for calling in the National Guard for backup. Though this has been shown to be pure speculation, and likely untrue, Jordan still appears to be repeating this claim, saying on Tuesday that his major question for the commission is Pelosi’s role in blocking proper security.

Jordan’s statements, even in the short time that his selection on the committee has been public, have shown that he and fellow GOP members will likely be using their participation on the committee solely to attack Democrats.

Banks, similarly, attacked Democrats when CNN asked about his goals on the committee and the scope of the investigation. The committee exists “to malign conservatives and to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda,” Banks told the publication. Republicans had attacked the original idea for the committee along similar lines, saying that it should also investigate anti-fascists, who notably did not attack the Capitol in order to overturn the election in January.

Pelosi has ultimate say on whether or not McCarthy’s picks are allowed to serve on the commission, which is likely why McCarthy also chose Armstrong and Davis to participate alongside the Trump-allied firebrands. Davis serves as the top GOP member of the House Administration Committee, which oversees goings-on at the Capitol, and had voted for the bipartisan January 6 committee proposal that Senate Republicans shot down.

The committee is set to have its first hearing next week. It will hear testimony from Capitol and D.C. police officers who responded to the attack.

This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.