House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has nominated five Republican representatives to serve on the House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
His list for the Democratic-led probe into the deadly melee includes three lawmakers who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results after the attack.
To lead the GOP contingent of the panel, McCarthy, a loyalist to former President Donald Trump, tapped Indiana Rep. Jim Banks as ranking Republican.
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“I have accepted Leader McCarthy’s appointment to this committee because we need leaders who will force the Democrats and the media to answer questions so far ignored,” Banks said in a statement. “Among them, why was the Capitol unprepared and vulnerable to attack on January 6?”
Banks added: “If Democrats were serious about investigating political violence, this committee would be studying not only the January 6 riot at the Capitol, but also the hundreds of violent political riots last summer when many more innocent Americans and law-enforcement officers were attacked,” employing a familiar Republican talking point of questioning Democrats’ responses to a summer of largely peaceful demonstrations against racism and police brutality.
McCarthy’s other nominees are:
Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis;
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan;
Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota;
and Texas Rep. Troy Nehls.
Banks, Jordan and Nehls voted against certifying the election.
Late last month, on near-party lines, the House approved the select committee after Republicans blocked the formation of an independent commission to investigate the incident. One of the Republicans who voted to approve the committee, Wyoming’s Liz Cheney, was picked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to be on the panel.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., will chair the committee, which is set to have eight members chosen by Pelosi and five by McCarthy, with Pelosi maintaining veto power over the picks.
