McCarthy and Other GOP Signal They’ll Defy Jan 6th Select Committee Subpoenas

House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is ignoring the advice from 20 former House Republicans to comply and will instead defy a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, escalating a standoff with the panel over his and other GOP lawmakers’ testimony.

The House panel believes testimony from the Republican lawmakers is crucial to their investigation as each of the men was in contact with Donald Trump and his allies in the weeks and days leading up to the Capitol insurrection. Some participated in meetings and urged the White House to try to overturn the 2020 presidential results.

In an 11-page letter to the panel Friday, an attorney for McCarthy argued that the House Select Committee does not have the authority to issue subpoenas to the lawmakers under House rules and demanded answers to a series of questions and documents if his client were to comply.

Trump is holding a rally tomorrow featuring: @RepAndyBiggsAZ, @mattgaetz, @RepBoebert, @GOPLeader, @EliseStefanik, and @Jim_Jordan.

It's a veritable who's who of Congressional seditionists. Too busy to do their jobs, but never too busy to incite some violence.

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 27, 2022

McCarthy has acknowledged he spoke with Trump on January 6th as Trump’s supporters were beating police outside the Capitol and forcing their way into the building, which was confirmed by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), who was with McCarthy when he made the call. But McCarthy hasn’t shared many details about the call, where Trump infamously responded to his pleas for help by saying, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people care more about the election than you do.”

Before we hold our hearings next month, we wished to provide members the opportunity to discuss these matters with the committee voluntarily.

Regrettably, the individuals receiving subpoenas today have refused and we’re forced to take this step.

— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) May 12, 2022

The Committee requested information about his conversations with Trump “before, during, and after” the riot. For House Republican leaders to agree to participate in this political stunt would change the House forever,” the California lawmaker wrote Thursday in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal with GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who also received a subpoena.

These two little bitches belong in prison RIGHT NOW #NeverForgetJanuary6th (nice paywall while publishing two seditious rat bastard traitors, @WSJ, you right wing digital fishwrap) https://t.co/0tvRKBApZj

— Tara Dublin 🇺🇦🌻 (@taradublinrocks) May 27, 2022

Yes, it would remove all of the traitors who helped Trump from the House. That’s a change for the better.