Jim Banks Reportedly Sent a Lot More Letters Trying to Pass Himself Off as Ranking Member of 1/6 Committee

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Yesterday Rep. Liz Cheney (R- WY) revealed that Rep. Jim Banks (R- IN) sent letters to federal agencies requesting the information they are sending to the House Select Committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, signing them as “Ranking Member” of the committee, even though he’s not actually a part of it.

According to new reports, he sent a lot more of those letters.

Politico reported Friday that Banks “sent similarly signed letters to many other agencies — the same ones the Capitol riot committee sent its own info requests to.”

The Daily Beast reported the same, with details about exactly to whom the letters have been sent:

The group of federal agencies that Banks has contacted includes the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security—among others. And one of those sources said that recipients also included social media companies, like Facebook, which had also been targets of extensive evidence requests.

Banks, you may recall, was one of five Republicans appointed to the January 6 committee by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) approved three of his picks but rejected Banks and Jim Jordan (R-OH). McCarthy retaliated by pulling all his nominees from the committee.

The argument from Banks is that Pelosi is refusing to let him fulfill his duties as Ranking Member, the position McCarthy picked him for, so therefore, he is identifying himself as “Ranking Member” in the letter and requesting that the agencies giving information to the committee provide them to him as well.

Confirming @AnnieGrayerCNN — Banks sent letter to Sec. Haaland claiming to be ranking member of 1/6 panel.

Also says Rs retain right to the same info given to majority.

Bkg: McCarthy chose to withdraw all his picks from serving on it after Pelosi rejected 2: Banks & Jordan. pic.twitter.com/SQpFQXWshx

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) October 21, 2021

A spokesperson for the congressman tried to push back Friday to The Daily Beast by saying “the letter clearly states that Rep. Banks was refused the opportunity to fulfill his duties as Ranking Member” and “this is the first Select Committee in American history that doesn’t have a Ranking Member and is entirely partisan.”

Banks himself stood by it to Politico and called himself “the only member of Congress who’s been appointed ranking member.”

Cheney currently serves as the Republican Vice Chair of the January 6 select committee.