Rep. Troy Nehls, House Transportation & Infrastructure and Veterans’ Affairs Committees.
Rep. Jim Banks, Armed Services, Veterans’ Affairs and Education and Labor Committees;
Rep. Rodney Davis, Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration.[756]
Jordan was personally involved in the acts and circumstances of January 6th, and would be one of the targets of the investigation. By that point, Banks had made public statements indicating that he had already reached his own conclusions and had no intention of cooperating in any objective investigation of January 6th, proclaiming, for example, that the Select Committee was created “… solely to malign conservatives and to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda.”[757]
On July 21, Speaker Nancy Pelosi exercised her power under H. Res. 503 not to approve the appointments of Rep. Jordan or Rep. Banks, expressing “concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members” and “the impact their appointments may have on the integrity of the investigation.”[758] However, she also stated that she had informed Leader McCarthy “… that I was prepared to appoint Representatives Rodney Davis, Kelly Armstrong and Troy Nehls, and requested that he recommend two other Members.”[759]
In response, Leader McCarthy elected to remove all five of his Republican appointments, refusing to allow Reps. Armstrong, Davis and Nehls to participate on the Select Committee.[760] On July 25, 2021, Speaker Pelosi then appointed Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger.[761] In resisting the Committee’s subpoenas, certain litigants attempted to argue that the Commission’s composition violated House Rules or H. Res. 503, but those arguments failed in court.[762]
SELECT COMMITTEE WITNESSES WERE ALMOST ENTIRELY REPUBLICAN
In its ten hearings or business meetings, the Select Committee called live testimony or played video for several dozen witnesses, the vast majority of whom were Republicans. A full list is set forth below.
Republicans:
- John McEntee (served as Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office in the Trump Administration)
- Judd Deere (served as deputy assistant to the President and White House deputy press secretary in the administration of Donald Trump)
- Jared Kushner (served as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump)
- Pat Cipollone (served as White House Counsel for President Donald Trump)
- Eric Herschmann (served as a senior advisor to former President Donald Trump)
- Kayleigh McEnany (served the administration of Donald Trump as the 33rd White House press secretary from April 2020 to January 2021)
- Derek Lyons (served as White House Staff Secretary and Counselor to the President in the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump)
- Cassidy Hutchinson (assistant to former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the Trump administration)
- Matt Pottinger (served as the United States deputy national security advisor)
101
