Rep. Jim Banks Shreds Pelosi After Being Denied From January 6 Panel
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Wednesday for rejecting his nomination to the special congressional panel investigating the January 6 Capitol incident.
“It really made me angry. I served my country in Afghanistan and she is saying that I’m not up to playing a serious role on this Jan. 6 committee,” Banks told the New York Post on Wednesday.
“But it just goes to show all along this was never a serious effort on their part, it’s all a political witch hunt. They want to make this all about Donald Trump, dragging Republican members of Congress through the mud and attacking 75 million people that voted for Donald Trump,” Banks told the outlet.
Banks and Rep. Jim Jordan were two of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s suggestions as Republican members for the committee but were rejected by Pelosi on Wednesday.
“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan,” Pelosi said.
McCarthy responded by threatening to withdraw all five of his Republican nominees for the select committee unless Pelosi changed her mind and seated all five. The minority leader also said that the Republican Party would launch its own inquiry into the events on January 6, when a crowd burst past security and rampaged through the United States Capitol.
McCarthy issued a statement saying, “This represents an egregious abuse of power and will irreparably damage this institution. Denying the voices of members who have served in the military and law enforcement, as well as leaders of standing committees, has made it undeniable that this panel has lost all legitimacy and credibility and shows the Speaker is more interested in playing politics than seeking the truth.”
Pelosi identified eight members for the committee earlier this month, including one Republican, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), one of former President Trump’s most outspoken critics. McCarthy stated at the time that Cheney keeping her committee responsibilities after accepting Pelosi’s candidacy would be “unprecedented.”
Banks stated he had began, “digging into the real questions that nobody’s asked,” adding, “Democrats don’t want to answer to on why the Capitol was vulnerable on January 6 when we had real intelligence three weeks before and we didn’t do anything to prepare for it.”
The Indiana Republican speculated that Democrats may be avoiding looking into parts of the January 6 violence because Pelosi was responsible in the expensive delay in the deployment of the National Guard, an allegation that Pelosi’s office has firmly rejected.
“Democrats don’t want to talk about it because at the end of the day, the higher up the food chain you get, the closer to Nancy Pelosi you get, and that spooked Nancy Pelosi and that’s why she rejected Jim Jordan and me,” Banks told the Post.
“We’re not giving up. These are questions that deserve answers and we’re still members of Congress who can demand answers to serious questions that the Democrats, so far, have not given any attention to.”
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