Trump loyalists top McCarthy’s list of picks for the Jan. 6 inquiry, signaling a partisan brawl

Commentary

Truth, justice and the American way – GOP style

House Minority Leader Joseph McCarthy…er…Kevin McCarthy (sorry, Freudian keyboard slip) announced which of his members will serve on the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. 

The lawmakers are Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Jim Banks (Ind.), Rodney Davis (Ill.), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.) and Troy E. Nehls (Texas).

According to Jacqueline Alemany of The Washington Post, “Three out of the five lawmakers chosen to sit on the committee objected to certifying the election results; all of them voted against impeaching former president Trump; and at least one of the members — Rep. Jim Jordan — spoke with Trump on the day of the insurrection.”

Alemany went on:

• Rep. Jim Banks, chairman of the Republican Study Committee and an increasingly influential voice in the Republican Party, has been tapped as the ranking member for the committee. Banks was one of three Republicans in Indiana’s Congressional Delegation who voted against Biden’s electoral college victory.
  • In a statement released after McCarthy’s announcement, Banks accused (Speaker Nancy) Pelosi of creating the committee “solely to malign conservatives and to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda.”
  • Banks curiously added that he “will do everything possible to give the American people the facts about what lead up to January 6, the riot that day, and the responses from Capitol leadership and the Biden administration.” [Notable: Biden was not the president on Jan. 6.]
• Rep. Jim Jordan, a high profile Trump ally who boasted to the Post’s Power Up a few weeks back that he speaks “to [Trump] all the time,” has clashed frequently with Democrats and administration officials during congressional hearings. Jordan was one of the most outspoken Republicans in favor of efforts to block certification of the presidential results.
• Rep. Rodney Davis and Rep. Kelly Armstrong were among the House GOP lawmakers who did vote to certify Biden’s win on Jan. 6.
• Rep. Troy E. Nehls, a freshman lawmaker who voted to overturn Biden’s win, previously worked in law enforcement for over 25 years. To his credit, he tried to help Capitol police keep the mob at bay as they tried to enter the House chamber.

So there you have it. A select committee that is indeed selective. As Chris Cillizza of CNN opined, “…McCarthy sent a very clear signal to Democrats — and the country — on Monday: He has zero interest in getting to the bottom of what really happened (and why) when the US Capitol was stormed by rioters convinced by former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election had been stolen from him. I can only imagine how these hearings will go down. It couldn’t be any worse…”

But maybe it could have been worse. Imagine if McCarthy had not tried to hide his true colors by selecting (mostly, with the exception of Jim Jordan) Trump acolytes who are not generally well known to the general public. In my view, if McCarthy really wanted to make his point he should have gone The Full Monty by putting the following people on the committee. (Please forgive the “Full Monty” reference. I would hate to see any of these people in “Full Monty” mode):

• Rep. Jim Jordon (Ohio) – but only if he shows some decorum and actually attends the meetings wearing a jacket. After all, he’ll need one with pockets to hold all the grenades he’ll be lobbing;
• Rep. Mo Brooks (Alabama) – Brooks, who was with Trump rallying the mob at the Ellipse on January 6, is generally considered to be the dumbest individual in Congress.
• Rep. Matt Gaetz (Florida) – Gaetz, currently under investigation for sex trafficking is a close Trump ally. Gaetz has been all over right-wing media saying that the FBI might have had a role in “organizing and participating” in the attack and wrote a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray to demand answers.
• Rep. Louie Gohmert (Texas) – Since being overtaken by Mo Brooks as the dumbest member of Congress, Gohmert has suggested that January 6 was a conspiracy set-up by the Democrats and called the arrests of the Capitol rioters “tyranny,” going on to suggest that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was responsible for the insurrection that left five people dead.
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia) – Greene has gone on record saying, “The people that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 are being abused” claiming that some of those who participated in the deadly riot are being held “in solitary confinement.” Greene has gone on to call the committee investigation a “witch hunt” against Trump supporters.

So, it ain’t great, but it could have been worse.

And with that, we come to the end of another episode of of “Truth, Justice and the American Way – GOP Style.”