January 6 Committee Wants ‘Traitor’ Kevin McCarthy To Sit For An Interview (Just Issue The Subpoena Now)

ABC News reports, Jan. 6 committee chairman could seek interview with GOP leader Kevin McCarthy:

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, invited House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Wednesday to sit for an interview with investigators.

“If he has information he wants to share with us, and is willing to voluntarily come in, I’m not taking the invitation off the table,” Thompson said in a phone interview with ABC News.

Earlier this week, McCarthy, who spoke to then-President Donald Trump during the riot, was asked in a local television interview whether he would cooperate with the committee’s investigation.

“I don’t have anything to add. I have been very public, but I wouldn’t hide from anything, other,” he said in an interview with KBAK.

“If Leader McCarthy has nothing to hide, he can voluntarily come before the committee,” Thompson told ABC News, adding that he would consider sending McCarthy a formal request to appear. [Just issue thesubpoena now, because he is not going to voluntarily cooperate.]

A McCarthy spokesman did not respond to a message seeking comment on Thompson’s remarks.

The select committee has formally requested interviews with Reps. Scott Perry, R-Pa., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Jordan is of interest to investigators for his conversations with Trump on Jan. 6, while Perry has been linked to unsuccessful efforts to get the Trump Justice Department to investigate claims of election fraud in late 2020.

Both [coup plotters] have rejected the committee’s requests.

The Mississippi Democrat also told ABC News that the panel could formally invite other GOP lawmakers — House members or senators — to appear before the committee in the coming weeks.

What about these two coup plotters? Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar implicated by activist in Capitol insurrection.

Coup plotter Peter Navarro recently detailed in an interview with The Daily Beast how he coordinated with politicians like Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). Trump Adviser Peter Navarro Lays Out How He and Bannon Planned to Overturn Biden’s Electoral Win:

“We spent a lot of time lining up over 100 congressmen, including some senators. It started out perfectly. At 1 p.m., Gosar and Cruz did exactly what was expected of them,” Navarro told The Daily Beast.

The January 6 Committee should issue a subpoena to coup plotter Sen. Ted “Cancún” Cruz as well, before he flees to Mexico and we have to extradite his sorry ass.

McCarthy told at least one colleague that Trump dismissed his request to help stop the riot, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., said in a statement during Trump’s second impeachment trial.

In an interview with Fox News in April, McCarthy said Trump “didn’t see” the riot was unfolding until they spoke.

“What he ended the call with saying was telling me he’ll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that’s what he did. He put a video out later,” McCarthy said.

It took 187 minutes, over three hours, as Rep. Liz Cheney focuses on. Trump did not want to stop it. He was watching it on television and delighted by his handiwork of inciting a violent mob to insurrection. Republican senator Ben Sasse: White House aides say Trump was “delighted” as Capitol was stormed:

“I don’t have any idea what was in his heart about what he wanted to happen once they were in the Capitol, but he wanted there to be chaos,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said, during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt Friday morning.

“And I’m sure you’ve also had conversations with other senior White House officials, as I have,” Sasse continued. “As this was unfolding on television, Donald Trump was walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was as you had rioters pushing against Capitol Police trying to get into the building.”

Sasse added: “He was delighted.”

This account generally coincides with other reporting, sourced to anonymous White House aides, about how Trump responded to his supporters’ actions, and why he took so long to tell them to “go home.”

While committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., has said the committee could subpoena McCarthy or other lawmakers who don’t voluntarily cooperate with their inquiry, Thompson expressed reservations about doing so.

“If we subpoena them and they choose not to come, I’m not aware of a real vehicle that we can force compliance,” Thompson said of lawmakers.

Really Dude? Talk to Rep. Ted Lieu. Congress has inherent contempt power. Rep. Ted Lieu Reintroduces Legislation to Strengthen Congress’ Inherent Contempt Power. Pass the damn bill and reserve a block of jail cells at the D.C. jail. Why are we still pussyfooting around what everyone knows needs to be done? These traitors to their county are not entitled to any special deference just because of their title of congressman or senator.

Stan Brand, an ethics expert who served as House general counsel under Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neal, said such a move could be a “precedential danger” that future GOP-led committees could similarly attempt.

If Republicans regain control of Congress after waging a violent seditious insurrection against the government, these fascists can do whatever the hell they want – this is the “precedential danger.” Doing nothing to hold these coup plotters accountable at law for seditious inusrrection is another “precedential danger.” What the hell is wrong with you, Stan?

Brand also argued that lawmakers, unlike other witnesses, could argue that their actions around Jan. 6 were related to legislative activity, and protected under the speech and debate clause of the Constitution.

Only for speech during official congressional business. Whatever secret conversations occurred between coup plotters from election day to January 6 are not protected by the speech and debate clause. They were conspiring to commit the high crime of sedition, insurrection and treason. The crime-fraud exception eviscerates the privilege. You don’t sound like much of an expert to me, Stan.

Jan. 6 committee enters new, public phase

Ahead of the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Thompson also expanded on the committee’s plans for public hearings in the new year.

He said the committee would hear from state and local election officials about the 2020 election, to debunk Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud and the dozens of unsuccessful lawsuits he launched to reverse the results after the presidential race was called.

“We have to look at that to dispel, or at least put before the public for their consumption, the people tasked with the responsibility of running those elections and whether or not they were legitimate or not,” Thompson said.

The select committee also plans to explore “the role of right-wing organizations” on Jan. 6, Thompson said, noting that some members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keeper groups have been linked to the Capitol riot. [Domestic terrorist organizations that operated as Trump’s private militia on January 6.]

What about the role of right-wing media serving as the propaganda arm for inciting insurrection? One America News Network, NewsMax, Fox News, etc., all played a significant role in the Big Lie and continue to do so, while downplaying the significance of the violent MAGA/QAnon seditious insurrection on January 6 that their propaganda encouraged and incited. They are a malignant cancer on the American body politic.

The committee will also publicly explore “whether or not we were prepared from an intelligence gathering position,” he said.

The panel aims to issue an interim report on its inquiry next summer, ahead of a final report in fall 2022.

“Part of what we will show is what went on to stoke the flames that ultimately led to Jan. 6.,” Thompson said. “What we will do in our hearings is put the pieces of the puzzle together, so the average man and woman on the street will understand how close we came to losing our democracy.”

Reminder: “Traitor” Kevin McCarthy led 139 Republican House members (and 8 senators) in carrying out the “coup memos” prepared by Trump lawyers John Eastman and Jenna Ellis, even after the violent MAGA/QAnon mob stormed the Capitol and threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence and to kill members of Congress. The 147 Republican lawmakers who still objected to the election results even after the Capitol attack. “Traitor” Kevin McCarthy clearly had a role in the coup plot.

These 147 Republican members of Congress gave “aid and comfort to” the seditious insurrectionists on January 6 by voting not to certify the Electoral College vote results even after they stormed the Capitol and threatened the lives of the Vice President and members of Congress, a felony under 18 U.S. Code § 2383 for which they should be “imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.” They could also be disqualified from serving in public office under section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

They are all persons of interest in this coup plot (See Peter Navarro: “We spent a lot of time lining up over 100 congressmen, including some senators”) who should be hauled before the January 6 Committee to testify. If they refuse to cooperate, hold them in contempt of Congress and lock them up in the D.C. jail until they are willing to comply. Stop mollycoddling these Republican traitors.