House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) vetoed two Republican selections for the January 6th Select Committee on Wednesday, sparking intense responses from the other side of the aisle.
As Politico reported, “Pelosi rejected Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who was tapped to serve as ranking member, and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), both of whom voted to challenge certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral wins earlier this year.”
As NBC News reported, when Speaker Pelosi was asked by the press about her choice to veto Banks and Jordan but not Representative Troy Nehls (R-TX), who “also voted to overturn the election, she said, ‘That was not the criteria.’”
Pelosi also noted that the select committee will continue to be bipartisan because she chose Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) with her other seven Democratic choices.
“We have a bipartisan quorum so we can proceed,” Pelosi said.
On Wednesday, Rep. Banks tweeted, “The question that all of us should be asking: what is [Pelosi] afraid of?”
The question that all of us should be asking: what is @SpeakerPelosi afraid of? pic.twitter.com/qRTnPPa0aE
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) July 21, 2021
In a statement, Pelosi said that the “attack on Congress on January 6th was the worst assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812 and the worst domestic assault on American Democracy since the Civil War.”
Pelosi claimed that it “had been our hope to establish a bipartisan, independent National Commission, but there is no prospect for that Commission at this time because of insufficient support from Republican Senators. Therefore, the House established the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
“Monday evening, the Minority Leader recommended 5 Members to serve on the Select Committee. I have spoken with him this morning about the objections raised about Representatives Jim Banks and Jim Jordan and the impact their appointments may have on the integrity of the investigation,” she added. “I also informed him that I was prepared to appoint Representatives Rodney Davis, Kelly Armstrong and Troy Nehls, and requested that he recommend two other Members.”
“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,” she added.
The Speaker concluded by stating the “unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.”
Representative Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), also selected by McCarthy, said of Pelosi’s move, “It’s bulls***. Jim Banks and Jim Jordan have every right to serve on any committee Kevin appoints them to.”
“Whenever Speaker Pelosi uses the word ‘unprecedented,’ it is code for her consolidation of absolute power,” Armstrong noted. “She is willing to do anything and everything to maintain control over her conference for the next 18 months.”
The creation of the January 6th commission has been a back-and-forth political issue. Republicans have argued that Democrats are attempting to keep the discussion about the events of January 6th alive and relevant into the midterm elections next year.
As The Daily Wire reported last month, Pelosi announced that she would be creating a select committee to investigate the riot.
The committee will “investigate and report on the facts and the causes of the attack and it will report recommendations for the prevention of any future attack,” Pelosi said at a press conference at the time, according to Axios.
“The timetable will be as long as it takes,” Pelosi said.
“Senate Republicans last month killed a bill that would have established a bipartisan commission to investigate January 6. The bill received support from six Republicans at the time, not enough to break the filibuster and push through the legislation. The bill fell short of the 60-vote threshold in a vote of 54-35,” The Daily Wire reported.
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Source: Dailywire
