House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Thursday said the Jan. 6 committee will continue to seek the truth about the cause of the deadly Capitol attack despite GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy pulling all his Republican members from serving on the panel.
“It’s my responsibility as Speaker of the House to make sure we get to the truth on this, and we will not let their antics stand in the way of that,” Pelosi said Thursday during a news conference at the Capitol.
Pelosi on Wednesday blocked two of McCarthy’s five appointments from serving on the committee – Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Jim Banks, R-Ind., – citing their statements that she said dismissed the seriousness of the attack and undermined the integrity of the committee’s work. McCarthy responded by boycotting the committee and not allowing his three Pelosi-approved picks from serving on the panel.
“This is a sham committee that’s just politically driven by Speaker Pelosi,” said McCarthy, who called Pelosi’s decision to block his select committee picks unprecedented. But Pelosi stood by her decision to reject Jordan and Banks, saying they “made statements and took actions that just made it ridiculous to put them on such a committee seeking the truth.”
Both Jordan and Banks are allies to former President Donald Trump. Jordan, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, called the Jan. 6 committee “Impeachment Round 3.” Banks, the head of the influential Republican Study Committee and a naval officer who served in Afghanistan, accused Pelosi of creating the committee “solely to malign conservatives.”
