Some House Republicans are pushing a resolution to impeach David Chipman, President Biden's nominee to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) – even before he's been confirmed by the Senate.
A new report from The Daily Caller shows that Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) spent thousands of dollars in campaign funds on alcohol, pricy restaurants, limo services, and the opulent hotel where is wife had previously worked.
In Federal Election Commission reports first reviewed by Fox News, the Swalwell for Congress campaign committee spent roughly $500,000 during the second quarter of 2021, a curious amount of money for a non-election year.
While there have been no accusations of wrong doing, the half-million-dollar spending spree by a congressman in a non-competitive district has raised some eyebrows.
Fox and the New York Post had initially ran headlines that indicated Swalwell’s wife currently works at the hotel in question, but have since updated their pieces.
Swalwell clearly has expensive tastes and has run up some fairly hefty bills in three months time. Some of those expenses include over $10,000 for limo rides and other luxury car services.
According to FEC records, the Swalwell campaign spent approximately $7,000 on posh restaurants in Washington D.C., and also an additional 13 meals at high-end restaurants in New York City and California.
In the “food and beverage” category, the campaign bought from Capitol Hill Wine & Spirits, a local D.C. liquor store during seven trips totaling $1,151 for ‘refreshments.’
The Swalwell for Congress campaign was not through. Over $26,000 was spent on expensive hotels, including $20,000 at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay, where Swalwell’s wife Brittany was apparently employed as director of sales for the hotel up until 2019.
Swalwell’s Congressional district regularly votes 70+% Democrat, making his campaign fundraising and spending a pretty sweet gig, if you can get it.
Settle down… it was part of a healing process to clear his mind and recenter his chi after banging a Chinese spy and farting on TV. @RepSwalwell amirite?
Eric Swalwell has been at the center of some recent controversies. In 2020, Swalwell was suspected of having a close relationship with a woman named Fang Fang, who is suspected of being a Chinese spy.
Fang helped to raise campaign funds for Swalwell’s 2014 campaign, and had an intern hired in Swalwell’s D.C. office. Forbes also says that Fang worked as a bundler of sorts for Swalwell, convincing big-money donors to write checks to the campaign.
Eric Swalwell has been one of the most outspoken Democrat critics of former President Donald Trump. He was one of the loudest accusing Trump of colluding with Russia.
He served as a House Impeachment Manager, and in March, filed a lawsuit against Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL).
The suit claimed that both Trumps, Giuliani, and Brooks should be held liable for any injuries or destruction that Swalwell claimed came from their alleged incitement of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
As allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a suspected Chinese spy and alleged campaign fund irregularities surround him, Swalwell continues to serve on the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees.
We’re really looking forward to hearing Dem Rep. Eric Swalwell’s explanation for his campaign’s luxury spending spree https://t.co/gQa4LMXP7N
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After House Republican leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy chose Reps. Jim Banks and Jim Jordan as two of his five selections for the congressional committee being created to investigate the events of the Jan. 6 insurrection that rocked the nation, Banks himself now rejecting the appointments of both Banks and Jordan. In a statement, she says she has spoken with McCarthy and "requested" that he recommend two other Republicans to fill those spots. Republican Reps. Rodney Davis, Kelly Armstrong, and Troy Nehls were not objected to—even though Nehls, like Banks and Jordan, was one of the House Republicans who voted to object to the election's certification in the hours immediately after the Capitol had been cleared of violent Trump rioters.
While Pelosi did not explicitly specify the reasons for rejecting Banks and Jordan, the reasons are self-evident. Banks' statement upon being nominated to the committee rejected the very purpose of the committee and vowed to unilaterally expand its scope by demanding the committee review Black Lives Matters-inspired protests while declaring that "Nancy Pelosi created this committee solely to malign conservatives and to justify the Left's authoritarian agenda."
Having made it clear that he believed his primary task on the committee was to weaken its focus and discredit its results, it's little wonder that Pelosi deemed him an unacceptably irresponsible choice.
The case against Jordan is also clear. After surviving revelations of complicity in the sexual assault of college athletes, largely through his own belligerence, Trump ally Jim Jordan became a go-to provocateur for disrupting Trump impeachment investigations, congressional oversight investigations, and any other probes of Trump administration malfeasance. He would be a natural Republican pick to attack and deflect any portion of the probe that touched upon the connections between the Trump White House, the organizers of the "March" to the Capitol, and the militia members who most engaged in violence during the attempt to block the transfer of presidential power. He has a history of rank dishonesty, intentional disruption, belligerent nonsense production, and general shitbaggery in past efforts to sabotage congressional probes, and his presence on this new, vital committee would immediately render it unserious. So he's out.
In what was likely a pre-planned response, Rep. Kevin McCarthy immediately announced that he would be pulling all five Republican-recommended committee members in response to Pelosi's rejection of the two saboteurs. This is consistent with all previous Republican strategies of blocking all congressionally backed probes of the Republican-backed insurrection.
The Pelosi response will likely be either to allow the committee to begin its business with no Republican-backed members or to appoint, as with her appointment of Rep. Liz Cheney, Republican members willing to buck their party's attempted sabotage of the probe. That doesn't mean she will be able to find such people; House Republicans have been thorough in retaliating against members who have gone against their fascist push to claim that the insurrection was not an insurrection, that it was not done by the Trump supporters who have now been arrested for doing it, and that the U.S. presidential election ought to have been overturned to begin with.
Representative Brendan Boyle (D-PA) introduced a bill that would only allow sitting House members to serve as Speaker after Donald Trump said the post would be “interesting.”
Boyle, having seemingly resolved all other matters of concern for his constituents, moved on to legislation specifically targeting the former President.
Though the role has never been filled by anyone outside the chamber, the Constitution does not specifically state that the Speaker must be a House member. Anyone chosen by the House can serve as Speaker.
And while Trump being chosen for the role would be an extreme long shot, Boyle is so fearful of the prospect he doesn’t want to take the chance.
“The Speaker of the U.S. House is second in the United States presidential line of succession,” he said in a statement.
“That Donald Trump’s name would even be tossed around as a potential speaker in the people’s house, should serve as an alarm bell that our current requirements need to be amended in the name of protecting our nation and our democracy,” Boyle continued.
Last month, in an interview with conservative radio host Wayne Allen Root, former President Donald Trump toyed with the idea of running for Congress in 2022 and perhaps becoming Speaker of the House.
Root, for his part, was completely enamored with the idea, suggesting Trump run for a House seat in Florida, lead the Republican Party to a massive victory in the chamber in 2022, and “become the Speaker of the House.”
The radio host went so far as to suggest Trump could then give Biden and the Democrats a taste of their own medicine if he were to “lead the impeachment of (President) Biden and start criminal investigations against” him.
Trump, always one to leave all possibilities on the table to keep his political adversaries off guard, said the idea was “so interesting.”
Root egged him on a bit, saying the move would make him a “folk hero.”
“Yeah, you know it’s very interesting,” Trump replied, noting some people have suggested he run for Senate. “But you know what, your idea might be better. It’s very interesting.”
Rep. Brendan Boyle wants to mandate that only House members and delegates can become speaker, calling speculation about a Trump bid for the gavel an “alarm bell” about current rules. https://t.co/ngiUZHBzdc
Root wasn’t the only one to suggest Trump make a move to become Speaker of the House.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon first touted the idea of Trump running for Congress to take over as Speaker back in February.
As with Root, Bannon suggested the former President could lead impeachment proceedings against Biden.
.@LevinsonJessica: Matt Gaetz says Trump should become speaker of the House. It’s an unlikely scenario — but perhaps not a technically impossible one. https://t.co/tBpzN42hLN
Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) a staunch ally of Trump, has also suggested he be elected to the role of House Speaker.
Gaetz sent out fundraising appeals which told donors, ”how great it will feel when … we make our next Speaker of the House Donald J. Trump.”
Boyle believes his legislation would prevent that from happening.
“This legislation would establish that mandate in very clear and direct language, and it would serve as a check against those who would seek to undermine and derogate the authority and responsibilities of the speaker’s office,” he said.
Speaker doesn’t have to be a member. The majority can elect anyone
We’re not quite sure Boyle thought it through very well, however.
The entire premise of Root’s and Bannon’s argument is that Trump runs for a House seat and then becomes Speaker of the House. Neither of their suggestions involves House members choosing an outsider to serve as Speaker.
Boyle’s obsession with stopping Trump even after he has left office is perhaps matched only by Democrats earlier this year who introduced a bill that would ban the former President from being buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) at the time said the bill is proof that “Trump lives rent-free in the heads of Democrats.”
“If it weren’t so tragic, it would be hilarious,” he added.
Boyle’s obsession continues that tragic legacy.
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During Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, video footage of events on Jan. 6 revealed just how close Mike Pence came to falling into the hands of the people who were chanting for his execution. Fourteen minutes after the mob of Trump supporters first breached the Capitol, Secret Service agents led Pence from the Senate chamber and down a flight of stairs. He entered that stairwell just seconds ahead of the arrival of insurgents, some of whom were carrying rope or zip ties. Had those insurgents not been delayed through the actions of Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, they could easily have been there to capture Pence and take him to the gallows waiting on the lawn outside.
But in addition to Pence, they might have captured something else that would have been especially problematic. For most of us, our electronic devices—phones, tablets, and laptops—are regularly trusted with our most confidential information. That’s one of the things that helps to make these devices our constant companions and among the most vital objects that we own. However, there is still information that’s considered too valuable, too sensitive, to be trusted to any electronic device, and one prime example was in the hands of a military aide who was with Mike Pence as he fled from the Senate.
That aide was carrying a small satchel, and inside that satchel was a book listing the locations of classified military sites, a description of how to activate and use the Emergency Broadcast System, a “black book” of pre-planned military actions, and a small card that contains the codes necessary to authorize a nuclear strike. That aide was with Pence at the top of the stairs in the video that was shown during the Senate trial.
The Jan. 6 insurgents didn’t just almost get Mike Pence. They almost got the backup copy of the president’s Emergency Satchel. Better know as the “nuclear football.”
As Reuters reports, concern over how close the satchel came to being captured by the Trump horde is calling for a review of just how the vital information is carried and secured. Some form of the football goes back to President Dwight Eisenhower, but it was concerns from President John Kennedy that created the system that’s still followed today. Both the president and vice president are closely pursued by aides who have the current information necessary to respond if the nation were to fall under sudden attack.
Following the events of Jan. 6, in which one of the footballs almost went into the hands of insurgents calling for the overthrow of the elected government, there’s a concern that this 60-year-old program may be due for some review. This wasn’t the only occasion in the last four years in which the vital information came under threat. An aide carrying the information on a trip to China got into what was described as a “tussle” with a Chinese official while Trump was having lunch with Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. That situation apparently required then chief of staff John Kelly to get into a “physical altercation” to secure the satchel.
Neither situation is particularly reassuring.
Exactly what the Trump mob might have done with the satchel had they taken it and opened it isn’t clear. There are procedures for changing the authorizations codes in the case a football is lost or stolen. However, the book of secure sites and the book of military actions—primarily military actions that the U.S. intends to take in case of an attack on the nation—are extremely sensitive and any data released from those sources could cause serious damage to national security. Had that information been captured, it would have been considered compromised even if the military wasn’t aware of any leaks of the contents.
Just what changes are being considered to better secure the information are not clear. But just as a start, securing the Capitol against future assaults by ravening mobs of Trump supporters out for blood is a good first step.
"Paying close attention to the Wyoming House Primary against loser RINO Liz Cheney. Some highly respected pollsters tell me she's toast in Wyoming… pic.twitter.com/DZx5Mcs2eb
The former president said he will endorse one of the candidates seeking Cheney’s seat within the next few months.
“Paying close attention to the Wyoming House Primary against loser RINO Liz Cheney,” Trump said in a statement.
He continued, “Some highly respected pollsters tell me she’s toast in Wyoming after siding with Crazy Nancy Pelosi and supporting the Democrat Impeachment Hoax.”
“And that’s just the beginning!” Trump added.
“This is a ‘hot’ race with some very interesting candidates running against her,” Trump said.
But the former president also emphasized there needs to be only one candidate challenging Cheney as to not split the primary field, giving the incumbent an advantage.
Trump said, “Remember though, in the end we just want ONE CANDIDATE running against Cheney.”
“I’ll be meeting with some of her opponents in Bedminster next week and will be making my decision on who to endorse in the next few months,” the statement read.
“JUST ONE CANDIDATE. Thank you!” Trump finished.
Former President Donald Trump said some of the Republicans challenging anti-Trump Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) will gather at his New Jersey, golf club next week to try to secure his endorsement https://t.co/zM9h997ltDpic.twitter.com/Vra6qkwf3z
Cheney joined nine other House Republicans in voting to impeach Trump after the Capitol riot on January 6.
In the Senate, the votes fell short from the number required for a conviction, though 57 did vote to convict. That vote took place after Trump had left office.
Trump critic Cheney lost her House Republican Conference Chair in May to Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who was chosen to fill the seat after Cheney was ousted.
Cheney has served as a Wyoming’s lone U.S. House member since 2017 and said she plans to keep her job despite Trump’s efforts.
“The people of Wyoming are gonna have a very clear choice between somebody who is loyal to the Constitution and somebody whose claim is loyalty to Donald Trump, and I’m confident that people will make the right decision,” Cheney said on Tuesday, as reported by The Hill.
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Climbing into my home-built starship (thanks again for the blueprints, Popular Mechanics) and using the sun as a slingshot to achieve speeds that allowed me to merge with a wormhole, yesterday I made my annual trip back in time to fetch this bit of insight-with-no-expiration-date from Paul Waldman circa July, 2006. Consider it a timely warning to our current spate of GOP toxicity:
Conservatism is the ideology of the past—a past we don't want to return to.
Continued...
Waldman continued...
Liberals need to embrace the culture war, because we're winning. The story of American history is that of conservative ideas and prejudices falling away as our society grows more progressive and thus more true to our nation's founding ideals.
Conservatives supported slavery, conservatives opposed women's suffrage, conservatives supported Jim Crow, conservatives opposed the 40-hour work week and the abolishment of child labor, and conservatives supported McCarthyism. In short, all the major advancements of freedom and justice in our history were pushed by liberals and opposed by conservatives, no matter the party they inhabited at the time.
Conservatism is Bill Bennett lecturing you about self-denial, then rushing off to feed his slot habit at the casino. It's James Dobson telling you that children need regular beatings to stay in line. It's a superannuated nun rapping you on the knuckles so you won't think about your dirty parts. It's Jerry Falwell watching "Teletubbies" frame by frame to see if Tinky Winky is trying to turn him gay. Conservatism is everyone you never wanted to grow up to be.
Let’s just hope our country gets that through its thick skull in time.
Note: "Palmolive implants microchips while you do dishes." —Deep State Madge
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By the Numbers:
2 days!!! (Commercial airliner sold separately.)
Days 'til the full "Buck" moon: 2
Rank of the U.S. in new covid cases: #1
President Biden’s and President Trump's average approval rating after 6 months in office, according to FiveThirtyEight's daily tally of all polls: 52%, 38%
Number of prisoners left at the U.S. gulag facility at Guantánamo Bay after the release of one Monday: 39
Percent support among all Americans for the Biden infrastructure bill's spending on, respectively, building roads and bridges, getting broadband to rural areas, and paying for childcare and eldercare: 87%, 73%, 71%
Per-glass price at my front-yard lemonade stand I set up when I was 5: $199.95
Number of glasses sold in 52 years: 0
Totally Random NBA Finals Score
Milwaukee Bucks 105 Phoenix Suns 98
Milwaukee wins the championship for the first time since 1971
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Mid-weekRapture Index: 186 (including 6 floods and billions of Satan's Big Macs served). Soul Protection Factor 30 lotion is recommended if you’ll be walking amongst the heathen today.
CHEERS to getting your moment in the stratosphere. Yesterday morning, at the precise stroke of 9-something something, tough-as-nails 82-year-old test pilot and 1960s Mercury program veteran Wally Funk became the oldest person to reach space, thanks to a successful flight of the Blue Origin:
An inspiration to many across the world, as well as those who know her best, Funk's life has revolved around flying: she has logged more than 19,600flight hours and has instructed thousands of pilots. Funk also has been a dedicated member of the Oklahoma City-based Ninety-Nines International Organization for Women Pilots since 1958.
Finally!!!
"She is the poster child of never giving up on your dream, never quitting, never allowing anything to stop you," said Funk's close friend and Ninety-Nine's International Director Monica Randolph-Graham.
Funk officially tops the previous age recordholder, John Glenn, who went up in a Shuttle at the age of 77. Somehow, wherever he is, I don’t think he'll mind.
CHEERS to today’s comforting words from Dr. Anthony Fauci. Oh, man...
CHEERS to high times in the upper chamber. This is it—today's the day we've all been waiting for. Today the Senate will take a crucial vote on a motion to start debating the motion to end the beginning of the debate to decide if debating a motion to debate is debatable, or if they should just move straight ahead with debating the motion to debate the motion to end debate right at the start. If all goes well, an infrastructure bill that doesn’t yet exist will be placed in one of three "shell bills," and senators will take turns trying to guess which shell the non-existent bill is under. (You can try this at home, it's great fun.) Then, for reasons yet to be made clear, the Republicans will all wink at Joe Manchin, who will leave after the chamber adjourns with an erection lasting more than four hours. God Bless our democratic-republic.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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Starfish walk using hundreds of tiny tube feet on the underside of their arms, as seen in this fascinating timelapse by Juliette Horn at the Frost Museum of Science. pic.twitter.com/UL8qDiFr4h
— Science is Amazing (@AMAZlNGSClENCE) July 19, 2021
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to a chamber that knows how to pass stuff. How's your state doing with divvying up its share of the $1.9 trillion in covid rescue/recovery funds that Democrats so generously passed last spring? Not blowing it all on cigarettes and booze and lottery tickets, I hope. Here in Maine, our Democrats in the legislature seem to have allocated wisely this week. The state Senate passed a measure that will now go to the House for final approval and then off to the governor's desk for a' signin':
The legislation sends large amounts of funding to a range of programs, government agencies, public colleges and businesses. It includes large boosts for student loan repayment grants for health care professionals, while also focusing on infrastructure improvements, especially broadband internet expansion for rural and other underserved communities in Maine.
As usual, whatever money's left over will be invested in the flannel futures market.
CHEERS to comeuppance. 47 years ago today, on July 21, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against Richard "Okay, I Guess I Am A Crook After All" Nixon. That same day, he was giving a speech at a private home in Bel Air, California. Let's see... He talked about the host's fine tent. He talked about the struggle between Greece and Turkey. He talked about his trip to Egypt. He talked about some former administration officials. And then he toasted his audience with a fine whine:
"You wonder sometimes, and I am often asked, you know, how do you really take the burden of the Presidency, particularly when at times it seems to be under very, very grievous assault.
Let me say, it isn't new for it to be under assault, because since the time we came into office for 5 years, we have had problems.
Buh bye.
There have been people marching around the White House when we were trying to bring the war to an end, and we have withstood that, and we will withstand the problems of the future."
He forgot to add four crucial words: "...for 19 more days." Silly goose.
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Ten years ago in C&J: July 21, 2011
CHEERS to a fine ride and a good run. Th-th-that's all, folks! With the perfect landing of Atlantis earlier this morning, we officially conclude the Era of the Space Shuttle, an endeavor—that is to say, an enterprise—that was a real challenger of discovery for NASA, a project more difficult to pull off than finding the lost city of Atlantis or an honest Republican in the District of Columbia. Please remove your belongings from the seat pocket in front of you and the overhead storage bins, exercising caution as some items may have shifted during our 30-year journey. If you're connecting with a public-private space exploration program, please have a seat at Gate W8. We'll be boarding just as soon as the crew arrives and they build the spacecraft. Hope you brought plenty of stuff to read. And a sturdy butt cushion.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to second thoughts. I saw this Subaru ad for the first time Monday night, and was surprised to find out it's a year old. A gold squeaky star goes to whoever thought it up and then made it happen:
It’s no wonder that dogs drive Subarus more than any other brand. (But a word of caution: they swerve willy-nilly to go after shiny objects. Blinker optional.)
Have a happy humpday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
Fox News viewers tear into Steve Doocy after he begs them to read Cheers and Jeers
The House’s select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is likely to encompass more than a violent Capitol riot. It’s shaping up to be Congress’ final word on national-security breakdowns that led to the attack — and how much those failures are tied to Donald Trump.
With a few exceptions, congressional oversight of the former president and his administration is effectively moot. But Democratic leaders expect that the select panel, whose work began in earnest this month, will turn up troubling new details of Trump’s behavior as he championed an effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
“The impeachment trial was about one guy and one crime — it was about presidential incitement to insurrection,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Jan. 6 investigation who served as the lead prosecutor in Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial this past winter. “The select committee has the charge of determining how it was organized, how it was financed, and what the purposes of the insurrection were.”
Recent revelations about national security risks feared by members of Trump’s inner circle in the days leading up to Jan. 6 have emerged separately from details about the Capitol attack. But they’ve painted a fuller picture of the motivations behind the insurrection for Democrats running the select committee.
And as the panel prepares for its first hearing next week, those Democrats are foreshadowing an effort to dig deeply into the chaotic endgame of the Trump White House. The waning days of Trump's reign, they say, laid the groundwork for the Capitol riot and was worsened by a national-security paralysis set into motion by the former president.
“This is a matter of democratic survival and national security to define these events and their causes, and then to prepare for a change, and prepare for security in the future,” Raskin added.
According to a new book by Washington Post reporters,Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, worried that the then-president might attempt a coup and try to use the military to achieve it. Milley, the book’s authors write, discussed ways to prevent Trump from initiating such a dangerous move.
“This is a Reichstag moment,” Milley reportedly told his aides. “The gospel of the Führer.”
It came as Trump was repeating false claims about fraud in the 2020 election and was increasingly pressuring lawmakers to object to the Jan. 6 certification of his Electoral College loss — even prodding his own vice president who was overseeing the joint session of Congress on that day.
“If there were a variety of different potential ways of overturning the election and maintaining power against the will of the people, that would be pertinent to our inquiry,” House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a select committee member, said in a brief interview.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), whom Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped to chair the select committee, told POLITICO on Tuesday that he would pursue “any and all circumstances and facts around Jan. 6.”
“If, in fact, the investigation leads us in that direction, then obviously we’ll look at it,” Thompson said of Milley’s reported comments.
Schiff said the inquiry would also likely examine the intelligence breakdowns that led to security officials and police officers at the Capitol being unprepared and overrun by rioters. Federal law enforcement officials have faced scrutiny for failing to share intelligence suggesting that far-right extremist groups were planning for violence on Jan. 6.
“There’s a broader issue that is a holdover from the last four years of an inadequate focus on domestic violent extremism — what role did that play in the lack of preparedness?” Schiff added.
In addition to the Jan. 6 select committee, Democrats in the House and Senate are spearheading an investigation into the Trump Justice Department’s secret subpoenas targeting Democratic lawmakers. With those notable exceptions, Democrats have largely cranked down their oversight machine now that Trump is no longer president, making the select panel the focal point for congressional oversight.
Trump was impeached for inciting the insurrection but acquitted in the Senate trial after Raskin and his fellow impeachment managers failed to sway enough Republicans to reach the two-thirds threshold required for conviction. GOP senators then filibustered legislation to establish a 9/11-style commission to investigate the events of Jan. 6, prompting House Democratic leaders to set up the select committee.
The select panel's creation passed the House with the support of all Democrats and two Republicans — Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who Pelosi later appointed to serve on it, and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
The committee’s first hearing next week will feature testimony from police officers who were assaulted by the rioters.
“We will approach it with a very serious eye on how these things happened, what were the breakdowns that led to this, disinformation, breakdowns in intelligence reporting and collection and dissemination and operation, calling up the National Guard — all of those things,” said Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a member of the select committee. “I think it’s very important work, and this is the vehicle we’re using.”
Republicans, meanwhile, are bracing for the possibility that the committee’s next steps could include seeking testimony from Trump allies within the House GOP, many of whom were in constant communication with the then-president in the days and weeks following the November election. Some had also talked with Trump on Jan. 6, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy appointed one of those staunch Trump allies, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), to the GOP side of the select committee. Jordan on Tuesday indicated he would be willing to testify about his conversations with Trump, adding: “If they call me, I got nothing to hide.”
And Democrats may well try. Some of them remain strongly interested in unearthing details about Trump’s private behavior before leaving office and the extent to which aides, advisers and other officials around him encouraged or prevented catastrophic outcomes before, during and after the Jan. 6 riots.
“Jan. 6 was the culmination of a pattern of legal violations and norm-breaking. I hope we will not have seen the last of holding accountable the former Trump officials,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a brief interview. “I think there are some serious questions raised by the danger that Trump posed in those last days.”
House Democrats are begrudgingly accepting Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s picks to join the select panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks — a list that includes a couple of their leading antagonists.
The Democrat-led committee is set to hold its first hearing Tuesday, setting up what could be the first of many partisan brawls over the circumstances behind the violent insurrection.
The GOP leader has picked Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), chair of the Republican Study Committee, to be the party's leader on the select panel. Banks is set to serve alongside Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee; Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, top Republican on the House Administration Committee; as well as Reps. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) and Troy Nehls (R-Texas).
Three out of the five Republican appointees voted to challenge certification of former President Donald Trump's election loss. But as much as that fact may infuriate House Democrats' base, the lawmakers themselves appear resigned to moving ahead and have little appetite to contest McCarthy's choices — over which Speaker Nancy Pelosi technically wields veto power.
As some Democrats see it, enough House Republicans voted against certifying the election results that McCarthy was likely to name at least one select committee member who backed Trump's election challenge. Two-thirds of the roughly 200-member House Republican conference voted on Jan. 6 to object to President Joe Biden’s win.
“Just based on the math, so many of them voted against certifying the election, that you know, [McCarthy would] be hard-pressed" to go another route, said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), who was appointed by Pelosi to the select committee.
Even Democrats who admitted they were angry about McCarthy’s picks were prepared to accept the outcome.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), one of the last lawmakers to leave the House floor during the insurrection, reserved his strongest criticism for the GOP leader.
“This is McCarthy basically saying he didn't give a shit,” McGovern said, adding that, "I'm not OK" with having members like Jordan on the committee. “But what can I do about it?”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), another Pelosi-tapped select committee member, said the panel would impose “serious parliamentary order” in an effort to tamp down disruption, adding he hoped the Republican members “take their responsibilities seriously.”
As Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) saw it, McCarthy could have made “even worse” picks. Some Democrats had fretted that the GOP could have tried to appoint far-right members they suspected of complicity in the attacks, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) or Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). No evidence has emerged of such activity.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) said the appointed GOP panel members' votes against the election results were disqualifying but deferred to Pelosi on whether to seat the Republicans.
“They're part of the problem,” Escobar said. “They're part of fueling the big lie that caused Jan. 6. If we are going to have a legitimate outcome and a legitimate process, there needs to be legitimate people placed on there.”
Democrats are still deciding how to respond to McCarthy's picks, according to party sources. One said they are encouraging their colleagues to "chill out" as they wait for guidance from Pelosi. The speaker has the final say on the select committee’s makeup and told CNN she was still “considering" McCarthy’s picks but added their votes on the election results were “not a criterion for service.”
Among Republicans, McCarthy’s picks won praise across the conference, from moderates to right-flank House Freedom Caucus members.
“They all have different perspectives. They all have different backgrounds, and I think that's all very healthy,” said Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas). “But in terms of smart, capable and honest brokers, all are.”
McCarthy’s five picks have various backgrounds and strengths, but all are members he can trust.
Republicans see Banks as the GOP foil to the committee chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.): both have a reputation for being measured, level-headed, and able to stay on message. Still, the select panel will be a test for Banks, who is assuming the leadership role of overseeing a high-profile inquiry for the first time.
Banks, who has a military background, will be expected to counter Democratic attempts to tie Trump to backers who organized the Jan. 6 rally, which preceded the insurrection by supporters of the former president. Already, Republicans have hammered the investigation as a partisan effort to hurt the GOP heading into the midterms next year by going after Trump.
Jordan, expected to be the most dogged pro-Trump attacker on the panel, has already described the inquiry as “impeachment 3.0.” The GOP sees him as a match for some of Democrats’ more pugnacious members like Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Raskin, both of whom have served as lead impeachment managers. Other GOP panelists can lean on Jordan's impeachment-hearing experience.
Armstrong, who voted to certify Biden's win, has a background as a lawyer. He, too, was involved in the first impeachment inquiry into Trump’s contacts with Ukraine. Davis, for his part, is a vocal advocate for reform of the Capitol Police in the aftermath of the riot.
Lastly, Nehls, a former sheriff, was one of the handful of House Republicans who stayed behind during the House chamber evacuation on Jan. 6. He also offered support to the Capitol Police who drew their guns at rioters seeking to break onto the chamber floor during the assault.
Even some Republicans who voted to impeach Trump say they were pleased by the picks.
“I am excited to see some folks who've not only demonstrated a serious demeanor, but also those who have excellent knowledge of the subject matter,” said freshman Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), who pointed to Davis, Nehls, Armstrong and Banks. “I think it's a very well-rounded group.”
But even though Democrats largely avoided contradicting Pelosi or weighing in on whether she should veto McCarthy's picks, some progressives voiced fierce criticism.
“Kevin McCarthy has decided that he wants to be chauffeur of the clown car, and he's not just not taking this responsibility seriously, but any of the responsibilities surrounding [Jan. 6] seriously. [P]eople died right here on these steps,” said progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) as she walked up the Capitol's East Front.
“They died. And he wants to make a joke out of this," she added. "So frankly, he should just turn in his pin.”
