Last week, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy met with former President Donald Trump to devise a plan: Use Republican spots on the January 6 select committee to shift the blame away from Trump onto House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the Capitol riot.
last week, the House voted to create a committee to investigate the insurrection on the US Capitol. The committee is to be made up of 13 members selected by Pelosi, with five of those choices to be made in consultation with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Earlier this week, McCarthy picked his five lawmakers. The Republican plan was to have them make the case that Pelosi should have done more to protect the Capitol, and shift blame from former President Donald Trump onto Pelosi.
But their plan flopped after Pelosi rejected two key allies of Donald Trump — Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Jim Banks (Ind.) — who were planted specifically to sabotage the investigation and try to put the blame on Pelosi for the Trump-fueled attack on the Capitol.
Both GOP lawmakers had voted in January against certifying President Biden’s election victory.
“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.
Frustrated by her move, McCarthy responded by pulling all 5 GOP members from the committee and vowed to conduct “their own investigation.”
On Thursday, Pelosi responded with two words: “Bring it.”
