Nancy Pelosi just doomed the already tiny chances of the 1/6 committee actually mattering
By: MSN
Decisions have consequences.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
If you ever held any hope that the House select committee on the January 6 US Capitol riot might produce a report that would help us understand what happened in the lead-up to that day and, in so doing, provide us avenues to keeping it from happening again, you should give up on those hopes now.
© Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/Getty Images WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds her weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Pelosi spoke on the January 6th Commission and the police reform bill. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The reason? Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision Wednesday to reject two of the five nominees -- Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana -- put forward by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to serve on the panel.
"The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision," Pelosi said by way of explanation in rejecting Jordan and Banks.
The speaker's office pointed to a statement Monday in which she had said any past votes would not be a criterion for exclusion from the select committee.
However, in her statement on Wednesday announcing her decision to keep Jordan and Banks off the committee, she cited "concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members," which would seem to suggest that their past views on January 6 -- including past votes, like when they both objected to the Electoral College votes in Pennsylvania and Arizona -- very much played a role. (A third appointee, Texas Rep. Troy Nehls, also voted to object but Pelosi said she would be fine with him on the committee -- perhaps because of Nehls' background as a sheriff prior to coming to Congress.)
No matter Pelosi's reasoning, her decision to reject Jordan and Banks, the two most high-profile Republicans put forward by McCarthy, dooms even the possibility of the committee being perceived as bipartisan or its eventual findings being seen as independent.
Pelosi and her Democratic defenders will cast the decision as the only one she really had available to her after McCarthy made his picks known earlier this week.
And it's beyond debate that McCarthy's choices -- especially Banks and Jordan -- were aimed at turning the committee into something of a circus. Both men would have, at every turn, sought to turn the tables on Democrats -- using the platform provided by the committee to push debunked claims about Antifa's involvement in the Capitol riot, questioning Democratic leadership's readiness for just such an attack and trying to broaden the committee's mandate to cover the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020.
Knowing this, Pelosi's move is rightly understood as robbing Republicans of that platform. But it also dooms the committee -- before it even holds a single hearing or meeting.
Because predictably, in the immediate aftermath of Pelosi's announcement, McCarthy said he was pulling all five of his nominees to the committee.
"Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts," McCarthy said in a statement.
You can be sure every Republican will use Pelosi's rejection of their nominees as evidence that she doesn't want the, uh, truth to come out.
This isn't true, of course. There's zero evidence that suggests Pelosi or Democrats did anything wrong in advance of or during the January 6 riot, which was incited by former President Donald Trump. But Pelosi has handed Republicans a golden issue to rev up their base in advance of the 2022 midterms -- and you can bet they will use it.
This story has been updated with comment from Pelosi's office.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated in one instance how Pelosi responded to the nominations of Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks to serve on the select committee; she rejected them.
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January 6 riot, which was incited by former President Donald Trump
yeah right...............
But she puts Cheney on the committee as an "unbiased" Republican.
The hypocrisy at play here is epic even for Pelosi.
But really not surprising.
Coming from Pelosi, what can one expect?
Nope, congress has become an non-representative, unapologetic 100% goat rodeo ...... nothing more.
Totally agree. What's more, I think it's intentional. It's as if someone watched the movie "idiocracy" and said, "Hey! Let's do that!"
Chris Cizzilla, the author of this nonsense, has a long lived reputation as a prime practitioner of "both sides ism" in his articles and commentaries.
He is routinely mocked for his inane comments claiming both sides in political disputes are equally at fault.
In fact, just today
More shoot the messenger bullshit John?
So sorry someone in the media is trying, and this case failing badly, to be unbiased.
As for the no leftists at the Jan 6th riot. No matter how hard the left pushes their false narrative there was at least one. Though Antifa and every other organization vehemently deny John Sullivan is aligned with them. Sure they do; and the Chinese government denies Covid 19 originated in their country as well. Neither is reliable or believable.
Deny, deflect, and spin is what the left is good at. It is all they have.
You found one! Wow, that changes everything.
Jordon and Banks are threat's to her getting what she wants. Jordon alone is well known for not playing her BS games and has called her out time and again.
A lot of kabuki going on ... anyone who thinks McCarthy did not know this was going to happen is living in some altered reality. Jordan is nothing but theatrics aimed at a specific audience.
Ya! EXACTLY!
So sorry he didn't give Pelosi the foils she so desperately wanted./S
Pelosi only wants this investigation to keep media attention off the shit show going on at the border; the emerging Cuban crisis; Covid making a come back; the super spreader Democrats from Texas infecting the Administration and Congress; the economy not coming back; the Democrats pushing their unpopular agenda through a narrow margin and heavily divide Congress; and whatever else comes along to hurt them before mid terms.
It is going to be the 24/7 bash Trump show. She can't have anyone that is not on that page. The Democrat media demand nothing less than a completely biased investigation devoid of facts; reason; and comes up with no resolution other than "Trruuummmmppppp!!!!!!"
Uh huh ...
Those who are complicit like Jordan have no role on the committee.
'Like OJ looking for the real killer': Republicans' bid to conduct their own 1/6 investigation gets scorched on Twitter
Decisions have consequences.
Yes, like universal party approval.
The gop sabotages itself. Don't blame Democrats!
Pelosi is not going to play the gop's reindeer games.
Democrats will thank them after midterm elections.
Pelosi is going to lose her position as Speaker after the Democrats lose their majority in the House in the midterms.
Hopefully she will finally retire when she loses the gavel again. She is every bit as toxic and abusive as Trump; but the left love her because she has that almighty D behind her name.