On Sunday, Rep. Jim Banks (Ind.), one of the two GOP lawmakers rejected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) from serving on the Jan. 6 committee, admitted that he was booted from the panel for a plot to blame the violent attack on Pelosi.
Banks, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, accused the Speaker of being responsible for the “breakdown of security” that day that led to a MAGA mob storming the Capitol.
“Well, it’s more clear than ever that Nancy Pelosi is not interested in investigation, she’s only interested in a narrative. She claims the reason she booted me from the committee was because of antics on the part of Jim Jordan and I and in hindsight what I realize what she means by that now is that we were prepared to ask questions that no one else has asked and demand answers as to why the capital was vulnerable to an attack on January 6th, Banks said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Why was there a systemic breakdown of security at the capitol on January 6th? If you’re going to investigate January 6th, why not ask those questions? That’s all that — that’s all that this comes down to. She has already predetermined a narrative about Donald Trump, about Republicans. She doesn’t want to talk about what happened at the Capitol that day to make sure something like that never happens again.
A mob of Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes. They did so after weeks in which Trump said the election had been stolen from him, a baseless claim that the former president has continued to make in the months since the attack.
Trump was impeached for inciting the mob, though the Senate did not convict him. There were notably GOP votes in the House to impeach him and to convict him in the Senate.
Five people died in connection to the violence on Jan. 6.
But Banks and other Trump allies want to create an alternate reality by trying to deflect blame from Trump.
Potential insurrectionist co-conspirator Rep. Jim Banks says he was booted from the 1/6 Committee because Nancy Pelosi is one who is responsible for the attack and she doesn't want to be investigated. (This tactic sounds like it came straight from Trump. pic.twitter.com/OSP2E732NB
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) July 25, 2021
