McCarthy threatens to pull Republican picks from Capitol riot committee after Pelosi refuses two members

House Republican leader’s move comes after Democratic speaker refused to seat pro-Trump congressmen Jim Jordan and Jim Banks

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he would pull all five of his Republican picks from the select committee to investigate the riot on Capitol Hill after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi objected to seating two of his choices.

The announcement came after Mrs Pelosi refused to seat Reps Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio, two hardline members of the Republican caucus.

“The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision.

Mr McCarthy criticised the move in a statement.

“This represents an egregious abuse of power and will irreparably damage this institution,” he said. Specifically, Mr McCarthy decried objecting to Mr Banks, who serves in the US Navy Reserves, and Mr Jordan, who is the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

But Mrs Pelosi did not object to seating Rep Rodney Davis, who is the ranking Republican on the House Administration Committee. Nor did she object to seating Rep Troy Nehls, a former sheriff who served in the US Army. And like Mr Jordan and Mr Banks, Mr Nehls also voted to object to the certification of elections results.

The minority leader said two questions that needed to be answered were why was the Capitol ill-prepared on January 6 when it was known on December 14, when President Biden’s electoral college win was confirmed. The second question was what has been done to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“Pelosi has created a sham process,” Mr McCarthy said.

But Rep Bennie Thompson, whom Mrs Pelosi selected to lead the select committee, said the Speaker made the correct move, saying it was consistent with the authority in the resolution to create the select committee.

“It’s the speaker’s call and I agreed with it,” Mr Thompson told The Independent. “I think we need people on there who admit that something went wrong and not practice revisionist ideas as to who was at fault.”

Mr Thompson noted that he had negotiated with Rep John Katko, a Republican, to establish a bipartisan commission, which had an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, shared subpoena power, which Mr McCarthy opposed.

“So, I don’t quite understand what he’s looking for,” Mr Thompson said of Mr McCarthy.

But Mr McCarthy said he opposed that commission because he objected to the scope of the investigation, criticizing that it would not include a focus on the slaying of Capitol Police officer William “Billy” Evans. Mr McCarthy said Mrs Pelosi had told him objecting to members of a select committee had never happened before.

Mr McCarthy said that unless Mrs Pelosi seated all five members, he would not allow Republicans to take part.

“Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts,” Mr McCarthy said in a statement.

In a news conference, Mr McCarthy said the only way to reverse the decision was to keep all five of his appointees.

Mr Nehls said he would continue to investigate into the happenings of Jan 6.

“I made a commitment to the leader that I will continue to examine all the evidence out there, all the statements,” he told The Independent. “I’ll continue to examine it, and then I will form opinions and then I will present that all that material to the leader and hopefully then it will get into the issues that I have addressed in there receive some attention.”

Mr Banks said Republicans still have work to do but did not elaborate on whether Republicans would have a separate investigation.

“That’s up to the leader,” he said in reference to Mr McCarthy.