Opinion: Speaker Pelosi Barring Trump Supporters From Select Committee Was Logical, Not Unprecedented

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:59 pm

It is typical for criminals to feign outrage when they are caught committing a crime by law enforcement, or presented with incriminating evidence in a criminal trial. So it was no great surprise when House Republicans reacted like petulant teenagers because Nancy Pelosi made the only logical decision possible in barring two Trump surrogates from serving on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection incited by Trump.

Defending her move to bar two of Trump’s closest House operatives, Ms. Pelosi said she rejected the two “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. The unprecedented nature of Jan. 6 demands this unprecedented decision.â€

It may appear “unprecedented†to Pelosi and Washington insiders, but for normal people it was the only decision she could make and still be considered a sane human being. The two Trump devotees were put on the committee by the corrupt Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to stand in for dirty Donald Trump; their job was to disrupt the proceedings and distract the American people from ever learning the truth.

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No-one in their right mind should have been shocked that McCarthy placed two of Trump’s staunchest allies and “most vociferous†operatives on the committee to investigate Trump’s attempted coup on January 6. In fact, the only thing more corrupt than placing Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jim Banks (R-IN) on the panel would have been placing Donald J. Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Lindell, Majorie Taylor-Greene and Sydney Powell on the committee.

It is quite likely that if McCarthy could have got away with it that is precisely what dirty Don Trump suggested when he met with McCarthy last week to strategize how to cover up Trump’s part in directing the January 6 attempted coup.

Obviously, placing Jordan on the committee would have been a savvy maneuver if Speaker Pelosi was an idiot. As noted by Jason Easley in December, “Jordan was one of the House Republicans who voted to overturn the election, instructed Trump to never concede defeat, and  met and conspired with Trump to prevent Joe Biden from taking office.â€

It is highly likely that Jordan’s only involvement with the Select Committee going forward will be giving testimony about his part in inciting an insurrection against the United States government. Allowing the likes of Jordan to remain on the committee would be tantamount to allowing a criminal to investigate his own crime.

Even Republican Liz Cheney approved of Speaker Pelosi’s logical move to keep a pair of Trump operatives off the committee and she lashed out at Kevin McCarthy. Ms Cheney told reporters:

“The rhetoric that we have heard from the minority leader is disingenuous. At every opportunity, the minority leader has attempted to prevent the American people from understanding what happened, to block this investigation.â€

She also said that Jordan was a “potential material witness†to the attempted coup and that the other Trump operative, Representative Jim Banks “had disqualified himself with recent comments disparaging the committee.â€

For his part, Jordan did what is so typical of a punk-ass criminal and accused Ms. Pelosi of convening the Select Committee solely as a “political attack on Trump.â€

Jordan said: “The Jan.6 select committee is nothing more than a partisan political charade.â€

No, the charade was Kevin McCarthy attempting to place a pair of Trump’s dirtiest operatives on a committee to investigate Trump’s attempted coup d’état. And frankly, it was a pathetic charade because it is almost certain that McCarthy will be called to testify about his frantic phone call to Trump during the Capitol attack begging him to call it off. A plea that Trump refused to listen to or even acknowledge was a reasonable request.

Nancy Pelosi had no option but to bar the two Trump devotees from serving on the committee. Failing to do so would be indistinguishable from allowing Trump and his two-bit personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to preside over the proceedings.

Republicans, particularly those closely connected to Trump, are terrified at a thorough investigation into the January 6 insurrection because a fair number of them are just as culpable as Trump for promoting the BIG LIE that Trump and his cult were robbed of victory.  And regarding the committee being a “partisan political charade,†it was Republicans who shot down the original bipartisan committee leading Ms. Pelosi to convene a Select Committee. And it is noteworthy that in negotiations for creating the original “bipartisan†committee, Democrats accepted each and every demand put forward by Kevin McCarthy.

The American people who do not follow politics or Washington closely deserve to know the whole truth about Trump’s seditious conspiracy to overthrow the Constitutional order on January 6. That would never happen if the likes of Jim Jordan and Jim Banks were allowed to participate and it may seem unprecedented to Speaker Pelosi, but to regular people it was only logical to keep two Trump operatives on the sideline; at least until it is their turn to testify and explain why they were intimately involved in an honest-to-dog attack on the United States Capitol.

 


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