Republican leadership has begun mulling names of those the party will choose to sit on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) January 6 committee, which will have 13 members, five of whom House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will have a say in.
A senior GOP aide close to House leadership told Breitbart News the names being floated as of Tuesday afternoon for the proposed Select Committee include Reps. Devin Nunes (R-CA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Scott Perry (R-PA), and Mark Green (R-TN).
The aide said, “If Speaker Pelosi wants to make her January 6 commission a partisan affair, then Democrats should expect Republicans to put forward aggressive members to push back on the Left’s falsehoods.” The list of possibilities include the Republican firebrands Greene and Boebert, who have both publicly offered that they would join the committee if asked.
McCarthy has not yet indicated how he will proceed with choosing committee members or whom he would be interested in seating on the committee.
Pelosi, for her part, will choose eight for the committee and has said she is open to choosing a Republican as one of the eight, resulting in seven Democrat members and six Republican members, according to a Politico report.
Pelosi introduced the resolution Monday to create the committee after Senate Republicans blocked the January 6 Commission last month. The resolution will establish an investigative committee — which will have subpoena power — to probe the riot that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 while the Department of Justice is already conducting its own investigation of the incident and has made hundreds of arrests related to it.
“January 6th was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history,” Pelosi said in a statement about the committee. “It is imperative that we establish the truth of that day and ensure such an attack cannot again happen. The Select Committee will investigate and report upon the facts and causes of the attack and report recommendations for preventing any future assault.”
Democratic Caucus chair Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) expressed concerns about the very names making the rounds among Republicans, saying on MSNBC, “You know, it wouldn’t shock me if [McCarthy] chose Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert. You know, he’s got quite a collection of characters to choose from.” Jeffries added that he expects former President Donald Trump, who was impeached for “incitement of insurrection” over the January 6 riot, will issue recommendations for the Republican members he would like to see on the committee and that he expects McCarthy “will follow those recommendations hook, line, and sinker.”
Republicans, including some moderate ones who voted to impeach Trump, are overall opposed to the committee. “It’s exactly what I was hoping we wouldn’t have, because it’s going to be politicized,” Rep. John Katko (R-NY), who voted in favor of impeachment, told Politico. Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI), another impeachment voter, also expressed reservations to the outlet.
The legislation for the committee has been sent to the Rules Committee and the House is expected to vote on it this week.
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com.
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