Members-Only Article
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision this morning to boot the two Jims from her January 6 select committee was quite the power play.
For obvious reasons, the loud Trump defender and GOP oversight bull from Ohio got the Pelosi ax. His appointment was also no surprise — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has repeatedly minimized the select committee looking into the Capitol riots as nothing but an attack on Trump. While he condemned the actions of insurrectionists during and after the Jan. 6 attack, he also voted to overturn the results of the election. Weeks later, Jordan was one of eight House members who served on Trump’s defense during the Senate impeachment trial. When he was appointed by McCarthy on Monday, he decried the purpose of the committee overall, calling it “Impeachment Round 3.”
Rep. Jim Banks (R-ID), while less known for his loudness than Jordan, was also never going to last long. As Politico Playbook pointed out earlier this week, he has been eyeing a spot in Republican House leadership for some time. He’s made all the calculated moves to grow his relevance: he’s become a close ally of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), traveled with Trump to the border and employs Tucker Carlson’s son in his office. Emerging as a hardline Trump defender and the ranking member of this committee would’ve scored him some points with colleagues.
He also made it clear from the start his intentions for his participation: to whine about the committee not probing BLM protesters.
Both Banks and Jordan, as well as another appointee, freshman Troy Nehls from Texas, voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It was all part of a weird balancing act for McCarthy — put a moderate like Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL), who was one of 35 Republicans who voted in favor of the Jan. 6 commission, on the panel, even though the majority of the Republican appointees will not be engaging seriously.
“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.”
Now, multiple outlets are reporting that the group is huddling and McCarthy might pull all members from the committee, though technically those who remain could still serve if they wanted to.
We’ll keep you updated as the story unfolds.
Here’s more on other news TPM cares about today:
Morning Memo Highlights
A lot of news has happened. Some highlights from TPM’s Morning Memo, a roundup of all things we think you should know heading into your day (which is being guest-written by TPM’s David Kurtz the next few weeks):
Barrack Allegedly Came Up Big For UAE: Okay, let’s jump right into the Tom Barrack scandal. We’ll break it into two parts: key takeaways from the unsealing of the case + what the implications might be. Still a lot to unpack on this story.
Key takeaways from the criminal filings:
- Trump Role? President-elect Trump was directly touched by the scandal, with Barrack allegedly succeeding in arranging calls between Trump and UAE officials. Trump is actually portrayed by prosecutors as a victim, betrayed by his friend and confidante Barrack (more on this in a moment).
- Hubris Kills: Barrack voluntarily talked to investigators and then allegedly lied to them, leading to a whole set of charges in addition to the violations of FARA.
- Curious Timing: The charged conduct took place from 2016-18. Barrack allegedly lied to investigators in an interview in June 2019. It took more than two years after that for an indictment. Was this case bottled up in the Trump Justice Department?
If You Read Anything From TPM This Afternoon, Read This
Michigan Sheriff Confuses Small-Town Clerks With Shady, Mike Lindell-Inspired Elections Probe — Matt Shuham
Coming Up …
President Biden is headed to Cincinnati today where he will tour an electrical training center at 5:40 p.m. ET. He’ll later attend a CNN town hall at Mount St. Joseph University at 8:00 p.m. ET.
The vice president is meeting with poll workers and other election officials in the VP Ceremonial Office today at 2:45 p.m. ET.
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
WTF Is Going On Here? — Josh Marshall
What We Are Reading
Panel chair says Trump will be part of Jan. 6 inquiry — The Hill
Alabama Council Member Tommy Bryant Utters Stunning Racist Slur In Meeting — Ron Dicker
Ted Cruz is blocking diplomats from being confirmed, and it has nothing to do with their qualifications — Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette