House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will not cooperate with Nancy Pelosi’s ‘illegitimate’ Jan. 6 investigation

by Alex Caldwell

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will not cooperate with the House Select Committee’s “illegitimate” investigation into the storming of the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.

McCarthy issued a statement on Wednesday informing House Democrats that he would not voluntarily cooperate with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s, D-Calif., “illegitimate select committee.”

“This committee is not conducting a legitimate investigation as Speaker Pelosi took the unprecedented action of rejecting the Republican members I named to serve on the committee. It is not serving any legislative purpose,” said McCarthy.

“The committee’s only objective is to attempt to damage its political opponentsacting like the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee on day and the DOJ the next,” he added.

The Jan. 6 Committee sent a letter to McCarthy on Wednesday requesting “voluntary cooperation” from him. The letter asked McCarthy to provide information regarding his communications with members of the Trump administration.

The Minority Leader criticized the committee for issuing subpoenas for “call records of private citizens and their financial records from banks while demanding secrecy not supported by law.” Most recently, the committee subpoenaed the private call records of former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who refused and sued the committee in response.

McCarthy also slammed the committee for altering documents to shape a narrative, as in the case of Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, whose text messages to Mark Meadows were admittedly doctored by committee member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., to make appear like Jordan conspired with Meadows to overturn the election.

McCarthy denounced the committee for holding individuals in contempt of Congress for taking the 5th Amendment or for their hesitancy to honor subpoenas. Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., previously declared last month to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that those who use their 5th Amendment right to remain silent were “in some instances,” he continued, “guilty.”

“As a representative and the leader of the minority party, it is with neither regret nor satisfaction that I have concluded to not participate with this select committee’s abuse of power that stains this institution today and will harm it going forward,” McCarthy concluded in his statement.

McCarthy is the third Republican member of Congress whose testimony has been demanded by the committee. Last month, the committee reached out to Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., both of whom declined to cooperate.

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