WASHINGTON (Reuters) -House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday said she would not allow Republican Representatives Jim Jordan and Jim Banks on the special committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, rejecting two of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s five picks.
The top House Democrat said she would allow Representatives Rodney Davis, Kelly Armstrong and Troy Nehls onto the Democratic-controlled committee, which Pelosi established after Republicans voted against creating a bipartisan commission to study the Jan. 6 assault by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
Pelosi had previously included Republican Liz Cheney, a vocal Trump critic, among the eight members she appointed to the committee.
Jordan is a dogged Trump supporter who served as one of his main defenders during his two impeachment trials, the latter of which was on a charge of inciting the Capitol riot. The then-Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Trump both times.
“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.”
The committee will probe the assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters who were trying to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory, which Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed was the result of widespread fraud.
Four people died on the day of the violence, one shot dead by police and the other three of natural causes. A Capitol Police officer who had been attacked by protesters died the following day. Two police officers who responded to the attack on the Capitol later took their own lives. More than a hundred police officers were injured.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone, Susan Heavey and Aurora Ellis)
