Pelosi Has Another Republican in Mind for Panel

Adam Kinzinger would be the second GOP Trump critic on the panel, despite McCarthy's wishes
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 25, 2021 12:00 PM CDT
Pelosi Wants Kinzinger on Jan. 6 Committee
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, shown in May, has expressed interest in being on the Jan. 6 special committee.   (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)

Ten Republican House members voted to impeach former President Trump the second time, and just two cast "yes" votes last month to form a special committee to investigate the attack on the US Capitol. One of them, Rep. Liz Cheney, already is on the Jan. 6 panel, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she'd like to add the other: Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger. Pelosi said she hadn't yet spoken to Kinzinger and wasn't ready to announce his appointment, per CNBC. His office had no comment. But "that would be my plan," Pelosi said on ABC's This Week. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said Republicans will sit out the process. Kinzinger, who regularly speaks out against Trump, has said he'd like to be on the committee, per Politico.

McCarthy withdrew the five names he submitted for the committee after Pelosi rejected two of them: Jim Banks and Jim Jordan. Pelosi said at the time she didn't refuse them because they voted against certifying President Biden's electoral victory, but that's not quite how she put it Sunday. The Democrat referred to Banks and Jordan as "the two that I would not appoint, people who would jeopardize the integrity of the investigation," adding, "There's no way I would tolerate their antics as we seek the truth." The GOP's general refusal to participate won't hurt the committee's credibility, Pelosi said. "We will find the truth," she said. "That truth will have the confidence of the American people because it will be done patriotically and not in a partisan way." (More Capitol riot stories.)

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