House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has hinted that the incoming Republican majority will investigate the Jan. 6th Committee Investigation.
“The American people have a right to know that the allegations you have made are supported by the facts and [must] be able to view the transcripts” of the investigation, McCarthy bellowed in a missive to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MI), who serves as the committee chairman.
But if Mr. McCarthy was serious about ensuring the integrity of the panel’s findings he would have a.) allowed fellow Republicans in his graces to actually serve on the committee and provide an input into the proceedings, rather than forbid them to sit on the panel, and b.) have the good common sense to recognize that many of the damning allegations put forth by the panel were not the summations of committee members, but rather were the sworn testimonies of people who had worked in the Trump White House.
But perhaps there is another reason for why Rep. McCarthy seems to possess such scorn for a panel that is investigating what all of us saw unfold on television sets and Internet feeds around the world.
Back in May, the Associated Press (AP) ran an article stating that the Jan. 6th Committee “issued subpoenas … to House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and four other GOP lawmakers in its probe into the violent Jan. 6 insurrection.”
“The panel is investigating McCarthy’s conversations with then-President Donald Trump the day of the attack,” continued AP, “and meetings the four other lawmakers had with the White House beforehand as Trump and his aides worked to overturn his 2020 election defeat.”
In fact, on Monday “the Jan. 6 select committee said … that four House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, violated congressional ethics rules by defying subpoenas for testimony and documents,” according to Politico.
The irony of McCarthy’s current stance on the work of the Jan. 6th panel has been noticed by committee chairman Rep. Thompson.
“He had a chance to have members on the committee. [And] he had a chance to come and testify before the committee,” Thompson deftly told reporters on Nov. 30th, who added that he thought “the horse has left the barn” for McCarthy’s sad attempt to misrepresent the panel’s work.
But, Thompson told reporters, “we will do our work, we will end Dec. 31. If [Rep. McCarthy] wants to conduct whatever he wants as Speaker, it’s his choice.”
Thompson also made sure to one-up McCarthy’s statements on the committee’s findings, telling reporters that all the panel’s work would be “not just preserved, but made available to the public.”
Does McCarthy in some way hope he may pretend that the activities of Jan. 6th were only dangers in the tortured minds of House investigators? Then he’s clearly failed to account for the damning convictions in November of two members of a violent far-right group, who were found guilty of attempting to stop Congress from formally declaring Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6th.
“A jury found Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes guilty of the rare charge of seditious conspiracy following a two-month trial,” stated BBC News.
That jury found fellow Oath Keeper Kelly Meggs guilty of seditious conspiracy as well.
“Both Rhodes and Meggs now face a maximum 20 year sentence on the charges,” added BBC News.
Later in its article, BBC News added this little tidbit:
“In order to be convicted of seditious conspiracy, prosecutors must prove that two or more people conspired to ‘overthrow, put down or to destroy by force’ the U.S. government.” They may also be convicted of the crime if “they planned to use force to oppose U.S. authority,” the news source declared.
Might McCarthy try to claim that the findings of the Jan. 6th House Committee are completely wrong, while a separate and independent jury made up of average U.S. citizens has come to essentially the same conclusions about last year’s attempted insurrection? He’s going to have to call those jurors liars too, if he’s going to make a go of it.
And, since so many others who took part in those actions that day also have been found guilty of various crimes by other courts, he’d effectively have to make that claim about the entire U.S. judicial system as well.
Such a pathetic ‘argument’ would almost certainly shred confidence in both Rep. McCarthy and his party.
