Pelosi Reminds Reporters Rep Banks Blamed Biden for Jan 6th: ‘There WAS No Biden Administration on Jan 6th’
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) effectively reminded assembled members of the press, why she found Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) unqualified for a nonpartisan effort to investigate the Capitol riots that occurred on January 6th.
Pelosi made the “unprecedented” move of removing two Republican members of Congress to a committee assembled to report on January 6th — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Banks.
In response, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pulled all Republican members of the committee (other than Rep. Liz Cheney [R-WY]) and continued his curious claim that this was merely a partisan witch hunt designed for political gain. This ignores the fact that, in May, McCarthy openly led members of his party to kill a bipartisan approach that had been negotiated by, and agreed to, by members of both parties.
Pelosi had previously explained that Banks and Jordan’s past actions and comments disqualified them from looking into the deadly attack in a fair and sober manner. When asked by a reporter to elaborate on what statements and what actions led the Speaker to remove them, Pelosi did not demur.
After first just saying that she would provide their statements, she said “I think one of them was sort of the — of Mr. Banks was that the Biden administration was responsible for January 6th. There was no Biden administration on January 6th.”
In a statement released Monday night — before he was removed from the committee — Rep. Banks dismissed the ordeal as a purely partisan effort. “Make no mistake, Nancy Pelosi created this committee solely to malign conservatives and to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda,” he wrote. “I will do everything possible to give the American people the facts about the lead up to January 6, the riot that day, and the responses from Capitol leadership and the Biden administration.”
The Biden Administration did NOT respond on that day because, of course, former President Donald Trump was still in office. One could interpret that Banks was discussing the responses from the Biden administration on January 6th that started on January 20th and that followed.
Pelosi was asked about Cheney staying on keeping the committee bipartisan, to which the Speaker clarified “it is not even bipartisan. It is nonpartisan. It is about seeking the truth. And that is what we owe the American people. And probably the biggest incentive for that, the less partisan it is, the more it will be accepted by the American people.”
When asked about Rep. McCarthy’s own investigation, Pelosi dismissed the question saying “I’m not talking about him,” and “let’s not waste each others time,”
Rep. Banks full statement on the January 6th commission:
“I have accepted Leader McCarthy’s appointment to this committee because we need leaders who will force the Democrats and the media to answer questions so far ignored. Among them, why was the Capitol unprepared and vulnerable to attack on January 6?
“If Democrats were serious about investigating political violence, this committee would be studying not only the January 6 riot at the Capitol, but also the hundreds of violent political riots last summer when many more innocent Americans and law-enforcement officers were attacked. And of course, the committee would not overlook the Good Friday murder of USCP Officer Billy Evans that was perpetrated by a far-left extremist.
“Make no mistake, Nancy Pelosi created this committee solely to malign conservatives and to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda.
“Even then, I will do everything possible to give the American people the facts about the lead up to January 6, the riot that day, and the responses from Capitol leadership and the Biden administration. I will not allow this committee to be turned into a forum for condemning millions of Americans because of their political beliefs.”
Watch above via CNN.
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