Pelosi Says She Plans To Tap Kinzinger And Other Republicans For Jan. 6 Select Committee

Topline

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she plans to name more Republicans, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), to a select committee set up to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to fill vacancies created by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s withdrawal of his own appointees on the committee.

UNITED STATES – May 12: Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., talks to reporters following after House … [+] Republicans voted to oust Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., from her leadership post as chair of the House Republican Conference in Washington on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Key Facts

Pelosi said in an ABC This Week interview that she won’t make the formal announcement “right this minute,” but it’s her “plan” to appoint more Republicans, specifically Kinzinger.

Pelosi said she will make the announcement about Kinzinger’s appointment “perhaps after I speak to Adam Kinzinger,” adding that he and “other Republicans have expressed an interest” in serving on the panel.

McCarthy pulled all five of his picks for the panel after Pelosi refused to seat two – Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) – though Pelosi said Sunday she would have liked to have seated the other three.

Kinzinger, a vocal Trump opponent who has proven willing to go after members of his own conference, was one of two Republicans to vote to create the committee, along with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who serves on it.

Pelosi did not specify which other Republicans expressed interest in serving on the committee, but Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) told Forbes on Thursday he would be “open to considering anything” after other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in January balked at the idea.

Forbes has reached out to Kinzinger’s office for comment.

Crucial Quote

“His service is considered, of course, an asset,” Pelosi said of Kinzinger, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force who flew missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, on Thursday, adding that “everybody else” on the select committee believes he would be a good addition.

Big Number

13. That’s the number many members the committee is supposed to have, all appointed by Pelosi but five “after consultation” with McCarthy, according to the resolution that created the panel. Currently the panel has 8 members – 7 Democrats and Cheney – leading some Republicans to preemptively dismiss it as overly partisan.

What To Watch For

Pelosi appointing more Republicans to the committee would be a clear effort to disarm Republicans of those attacks, but it’s unclear if she will be able to find four Republicans besides Kinzinger to serve. McCarthy has kept open the possibility that he could strip committee assignments from anyone who accepts Pelosi’s offer – though Kinzinger said of that threat, “Who gives a s***?”

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