A day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi moved to block a pair of controversial Republican congressmen from joining a committee intended to investigate the deadly storming of the Capitol, she continued to lash the lawmakers on Thursday.
Pelosi (D-Calif.) had signaled she was rejecting Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.), two hardcore supporters of former President Donald Trump who have baselessly challenged the validity of President Biden’s election victory.
In a news conference on Thursday, Pelosi said the pair’s behavior “made it ridiculous” to place them on the panel.
“They had made statements and taken actions that I think would impact the integrity of the work of the committee,” Pelosi said. “This is deadly serious. This is about our Constitution. It’s about our country. It’s about assault on the Capitol.”
A mob of extremists, incited by Trump, bowled into the seat of the U.S. government on Jan. 6. Five people died.
Pelosi said she would accept three other Republican lawmakers picked for the panel: Rodney Davis of Illinois, Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota and Troy E. Nehls of Texas.
But Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who opposed a bipartisan commission, threatened on Wednesday to pull all of his selections in protest and launch a separate GOP investigation.
In a statement, McCarthy (R-Calif.) called Pelosi’s action an “an egregious abuse of power” and claimed that the committee had “lost all legitimacy and credibility.”
“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,” he said in the statement.
On Thursday, Pelosi showed no signs of making a U-turn.
“It is my responsibility as speaker of the House to make sure that we get to the truth on this,” she said, “and we will not let their antics get in the way of that.”
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