GOP Rep. Kinzinger says he’s not afraid of backlash after joining Jan. 6 committee at Pelosi’s request

July 27, 2021 3oliver

GOP Ill. Rep. Adam Kinzinger says he will call on GOP House members to testify before Jan. 6 committee
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy vaguely threatened to remove Kinzinger from committees

WASHINGTON — Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Monday he is willing to call fellow Republican lawmakers to testify before the select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Kinzinger also shrugged off questions about possible retaliation from House GOP leaders after he agreed to serve on the panel at the invitation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Kinzinger is the second House Republican to join the panel at Pelosi’s request.

“I want to know where the facts lead, and if that includes members that had a role in organizing or that they knew or that tried to cover up, that’s important,” Kinzinger told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday.

Pelosi tapped Kinzinger to the select committee on Sunday, days after she rejected two GOP lawmakers named to the committee by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. In response, McCarthy yanked his entire slate of picks for the panel, and he now seems to be under pressure from some Republicans to punish Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who also joined the committee at Pelosi’s urging.

Kinzinger and Cheney have openly criticized members of their party for downplaying the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. That day, a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters breached the building and tried to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election as president. The attack left five people dead and sent lawmakers fleeing for their safety.

Cheney and Kinzinger were the only Republicans who voted in support of establishing the committee in June.

More:House Speaker Pelosi names GOP Rep. Kinzinger to select committee investigating Jan. 6 riot

More:Pelosi rejects GOP picks Jordan, Banks on Jan. 6 committee; McCarthy threatens to pull out

More:Pelosi taps Democrats, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney for committee investigating Capitol riot

McCarthy blasted Pelosi’s decision to reject two of his picks for the panel.

“It just makes the whole committee a sham and the outcome predetermined,” he said during an unrelated event at the White House on Monday.

He also took a dig at Cheney and Kinzinger, calling them “Pelosi Republicans.”

But the House Minority Leader had little to say on Kinzinger’s willingness to call Republicans to testify, and he was noncommittal when asked if he would consider stripping Kinzinger or Cheney of their committee assignments.

“We’ll see,” McCarthy responded when asked about possible punishments for the pair.

Kinzinger said if House Republicans tried to retaliate against him or Cheney “for getting to the bottom (of the Jan. 6 attack) and telling the truth, I think that probably says more about them than it does for us.”

Cheney was removed as chair of the House Republican Conference in May after repeatedly criticizing Trump and his supporters.

McCarthy said earlier this month that it was “shocking” and “unprecedented” for a lawmaker to accept a committee post from the opposing party.

“I’m not threatening anybody with committee assignments,” he said on July 1. “What I’m saying is, it was shocking to me that if a person is a Republican, they get their committee assignments from the Republican conference. For somebody to accept committee assignments from Speaker Pelosi, that’s unprecedented,” he said.

Last week, Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy’s five selections for the committee: Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio and Jim Banks, R-Ind. Both were opposed to certifying the 2020 election results and forming the select committee.

Banks blamed Pelosi for security failures that enabled rioters to overtake the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Reach Chelsey Cox on Twitter @therealco.