Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement Wednesday that the January 6 select committee’s subpoenas are devolving the country into a “banana republic” and that lawmakers involved in the committee should be stripped of their assignments.
The House committee investigating the January 6 riots and protests demanded communications relating to at least 30 officials connected to former President Donald Trump between December 1, 2020, and January 20, 2021.
Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson’s (D-MS) demands for communications of Trump’s associates arises as the FBI found scant evidence that the January 6 protests and subsequent violence were not the result of an organized plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Banks, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), told Breitbart News that the demands would do “irreversible” damage to the country.
“Democrats have crossed a red line. This is banana republic stuff. They are weaponizing Congress’s subpoena power to spy on their colleagues without a shred of evidence. They have done irreversible damage to American democracy, and they must face consequences,” the Hoosier conservative said.
The demands call for all White House communications on January 6 relating to:
the January 6, 2021, rally; the January 6, 2021, march to the Capitol; the January 6, 2021, violence at the Capitol; any aspect of the Joint Session where Congress was counting electoral votes; any legal, political, or other strategy regarding the counting of electoral votes; Donald J. Trump; Vice President Pence; the President’s tweets, speech, any other public communications on that date; the President’s recording of video for release on that date and any outtakes; reactions, summaries, or characterizations of any public speeches or other communications by Donald Trump or other public speakers on that date; efforts to persuade the President to deliver any particular message to people at or near the Capitol; Sarah Matthews; Hope Hicks; Mark Meadows; Dan Scavino; Pat Cipollone; Marc Short; Patrick Philbin; Eric Herschmann; Stephan Miller; Greg Jacob; Matthew Pottinger; Keith Kellogg; Robert O’Brien; Peter Navarro; Ben Williamson; Cassidy Hutchinson; Molly Michael; Nicholas “Nick” Luna; Judd Deere; Kayleigh McEnany; The Honorable David Ferriero; Ivanka Trump; Eric Trump; Lara Trump; Donald Trump, Jr.; Jared Kushner; Melania Trump; Kimberly Guilfoyle; Steve Bannon; Michael Flynn; Rudolph “Rudy” Giuliani; Roger Stone; any Member of Congress or congressional staff; or the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Interior, or any element of the National Guard.
The Democrats’ demands for records give the affected individuals until September 9; the committee has been granted subpoena power, meaning that Democrats could turn the demands into subpoenas if they do not comply with the Democrats’ investigation.
Banks said that Republicans and Democrats involved in the committee should never have the opportunity to spy on their colleagues; he said if that Republicans take back the House in 2022, all Republicans involved should be stripped of their committee assignments.
“Speaker Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Adam Kinzinger, Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney and their cohorts have abused the power of the January 6th commission. They shouldn’t get the chance to do it again,” Banks charged. “When Republicans take back the House in 2022, every Democrat and Pelosi Republican on the January 6th Commission should be stripped of their committee assignments.”
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) initially picked Banks and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the House Judiciary Committee ranking member, to serve on the January 6 committee, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) blocked his pick. Pelosi believed that Banks and Jordan could not be objective members of the committee.
Instead, Pelosi tapped Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY), two Never Trump Republicans, to serve on the committee.
Banks told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson Tuesday that Democrats want to crush anyone that disagrees with Pelosi and her agenda.
He said:
Not just that but the unprecedented abuse of power by the Speaker of the House. Tucker, I’ll tell you that with everything going on in Afghanistan, everything going on in Capitol Hill this week, most of my Republican colleagues have no idea that this is happening. They’re about to find out about it. This serves as a wake-up call to all Republicans, that these authoritarian Democrats aren’t playing a game.
Banks added, “They’re out to destroy you. They’re out to destroy all of us who disagree with Nancy Pelosi and any of you who believe something different than what they believe.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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