House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he was opposed to a proposal to set up an independent and non-partisan commission to investigate the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol.
McCarthy’s opposition will undermine Republican support before it is voted on this week. Democrats control the house, but McCarthy’s opposition could reduce the legislature’s chances of setting up the commission in the evenly divided Senate.
In one statementMcCarthy accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of maliciously negotiating and “playing political games”.
He said: “Given the political misdirections that have undermined this process, given the now dual and potentially counterproductive nature of these efforts, and given the short-sighted scope of the speaker who did not examine the interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot read this legislation support. ”
McCarthy has long said the commission should look beyond the Capitol uprising and investigate left-wing groups protesting police violence following the murder of George Floyd.
Pelosi flatly rejected this approach and tried to model the body on the model of the non-partisan and independent 9/11 commission, which investigated and produced a report on the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Bennie Thompson from Mississippi and John Katko from New York, the top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, made a compromise proposal last week.
The commission would be split evenly between Democratic and Republican candidates, neither of whom serve government officials, and both factions would have to agree that subpoenas be issued.
Donald Trump supporters broke the Capitol in service of his lie that the election was subject to mass fraud and in an attempt to stop the confirmation of Joe Biden’s victory. Some rioters were looking for lawmakers, including then Vice President Mike Pence, to catch and possibly kill them. More than 400 were billed.
McCarthy said He supported federal efforts to hold attackers accountable, but claimed the proposed commission could disrupt such work.
Liz Cheney, the Wyoming representative who has been expelled from the leadership of the House of Republicans for opposition to Trump and tries to downplay the Capitol uprising. led calls for McCarthy, willingly or forced to testify regarding his conversation with Trump during the attack.
Washington state Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler said McCarthy told her when he asked the president to retrieve his supporters, Trump replied, “Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset than the elections You.”
In a recent interview on Fox News, McCarthy Avoided questions about Beutler’s statement – but did not deny it.
Cheney told ABC last week, “I would hope he doesn’t need a subpoena, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a subpoena.”
But McCarthy has thrown his support behind Trump, whose rule over the Republican Party is almost complete despite his two impeachments – the second for inciting the Capitol uprising – and his final electoral defeat.
Capitol Police said this month that threats against members of Congress increased 107% year over year.