Republican Who Led Negotiations to Create 1/6 Commission Slams Plan for Select Committee: ‘Would Be a Turbo-Charged Partisan Exercise’

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pursuing a select committee investigating the January 6th riots at the Capitol, but a top Republican who pushed for a 1/6 commission isn’t happy with this plan.

Congressman John Katko (R- NY) was one of a few Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump. He is also the Republican ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, and worked with Chairman Bennie Thompson (D- MS) on a deal for the commission that Republican senators ultimately rejected.

In a statement Monday, Katko said that the select committee “would have a skewed” bent that goes against what a commission would have been.

“It would be a turbo-charged partisan exercise,” he said, “not an honest fact-finding body that the American people and the Capitol Police deserve. For those reasons, I will not support its creation when voted upon.”

Katko also made it clear he wouldn’t have interest in participating, after Pelosi’s office said she would consider a Republican for one of her eight appointments.

Rep. Katko, the R who negotiated the now-scuttled 1/6 commission deal, comes out blasting the Select Committee pic.twitter.com/UOABMmJptf

— Jeremy Herb (@jeremyherb) June 28, 2021