Last updated on July 3rd, 2021 at 04:05 pm
Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) responded to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy‘s (R-Calif.) threat to strip Republicans who accept an offer from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to serve on a commission investigating the insurrection of January 6 with four simple words: “Who gives a shit?”
The House voted largely on party lines to create the commission, with only two representatives, Kinzinger and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), voting in favor of its formation. McCarthy has decried the commission’s creation as a partisan exercise.
The committee will have eight members appointed by Pelosi and five appointed by McCarthy following a “consultation.â€
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Earlier this week, Pelosi confirmed that she has the authority to veto any of McCarthy’s picks, though she stopped short of confirming whether she will allow any Republican who voted not to certify President Joe Biden‘s Electoral College win on the panel.
Kinzinger, for his part, would not comment on whether he’d serve on the commission, telling reporters that “we’ll see how this whole thing shakes out.â€
“I do think the threat of removing committees is ironic, because you won’t go after the space lasers and white supremacist people but those who tell the truth,†he said, referring to remarks from Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who was stripped of her committee assignments for spreading conspiracy theories, including one that a deadly wildfire in California was caused by space lasers owned by the Rothschild family, and Representative Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who spoke at a conference organized by a prominent white nationalist and has faced criticism and calls from members of his own family to step down.
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
