Republican Jan. 6 investigation

 Washington Examiner:

As the select committee formed to investigate the Jan. 6 riot continues to interview witnesses and issue subpoenas, House Republicans who were originally submitted to sit on the panel are quietly working on their own counterinvestigation and plan to release a report on their findings.

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The resolution to create the select committee allowed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to “recommend” five members to sit on the committee but allowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi the final say on the picks. Pelosi, in a never-before-seen move, blocked Banks (who was set to be ranking member) and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio from sitting on the committee. That prompted McCarthy to pull his other three appointments in protest unless all five were seated.

The two Republicans who do sit on the committee, Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, were appointed by Pelosi rather than McCarthy.

After pulling his picks, McCarthy declared: “We will run our own investigation … Why was the Capitol so ill-prepared for that day when they knew on Dec. 14 they had a problem? And what have we done to make sure that never happens again?”

This effort, led by Banks, is fulfilling that pledge. He said that the Jan. 6 committee is based on a "conspiracy theory" that "Jan. 6 was an inside job ... secretly orchestrated by President Trump and his closest advisers."

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The Republicans are focusing on Capitol security failures, which were also the focus of a joint Senate committee report on Jan. 6. But they are also focusing in on any role that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had in failing to secure the Capitol.

“They don't want to get to the main question, which is why wasn't the Capitol properly secured that day? And the only one who can answer that question is Speaker Pelosi,” Jordan said on Wednesday. “In fact, I still believe the reason Mr. Banks and I were not permitted to be on the committee is because Speaker Pelosi knew we were going to focus on that fundamental question.”

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I suspect Pelosi was trying to dodge responsibility for the ill-prepared nature of the Capitol building.  So far there has been no evidence that Trump was responsible for the attack on the building.