McCarthy’s attorney, Elliot S. Berke, criticized the committee from all angles, alleging that the subpoenas he issued to lawmakers are unconstitutional or invalid because they do not meet certain legal requirements.
The Republican leader’s argument that the committee is not legally or constitutionally valid echoes the facts for a number of citation purposes that have attempted to make a legal claim that they must not comply with. The judges rejected this argument.
U.S. District Court Judge Tim Kelly said in a recent case related to the Republican National Committee’s documents committee request and one of its suppliers that the request was within its reach as legislative body.
In addition to McCarthy, the panel cited four other House Republicans: Republican Representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. Jordan, Biggs and Perry have also rejected citations issued by the committee.
January 6 committee spokesman Tim Mulvey said in a statement Friday that “McCarthy and other members who have been summoned are hiding behind rejected arguments and unfounded requests for special treatment.”
“Complaints challenging the composition of the Selective Committee and the legitimacy of its subpoenas have repeatedly failed in court. The Selective Committee has interviewed more than a thousand people, and the vast majority of cited witnesses have complied with the law.” Mulvey said, adding that the panel chairman will formally respond “in the next few days” to those who have not complied.
In the letter, Berke focused specifically on the composition of the committee, alleging that it was partisan in nature and did not have the necessary input from House Republicans to issue summonses to members of Congress.
While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the selection of Jordan and Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana by McCarthy to serve on the committee, she would have accepted the other three Republican leader elections. Instead, McCarthy removed the rest of his proposed members from consideration. Pelosi eventually selected GOP representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois to serve on the panel.
Reducing the committee’s investigative focus, Berke accused the committee of using the federal government to “attack perceived political rivals” and warned that its actions could “open the Pandora’s box and condemn the institution to partisan” investigations. “.
McCarthy said he has no new information to offer to the committee, and suggested that the group should ask Cheney, who served as chair of the GOP conference during the time the committee wants to discuss with McCarthy. if you want to know more about the Republican leadership of the House. .
McCarthy and Cheney became public political rivals when the Republican leader backed a campaign to oust the Wyoming Republican from her leadership position for outwardly criticizing former President Donald Trump for her role in the attack.
McCarthy’s lawyer in the letter also went so far as to say that some members of the panel are exaggerating by claiming that they are acting as law enforcement officers. The court has made it clear that its function is not to prosecute any crime, but simply to refer any crime that its investigation discovers, if any, to the Department of Justice.
“In composition, conduct, press releases, public statements, interviews and correspondence, the select committee clearly does not act within the limits of any legislative purpose,” Berke wrote. “His only goal seems to be to try to add political points or harm his political opponents, acting as the Democratic Congress Campaign Committee one day and the Justice Department the next.”
Berke set out McCarthy’s demands that he want them to be met before considering how to proceed with the subpoena. These include: Outlining what topics and documents the group plans to use in a statement, providing the legal and constitutional rationality of both, mentioning the member of the minority rank who was consulted before issuing citations to Republican lawmakers, and who the member of the minority of rank and who the lawyer would be in a deposition, and limiting any deposition to one hour per side, alternating between the minority lawyer and the majority.
In his initial letter to McCarthy in January asking for his voluntary cooperation, the panel made it clear that he wanted to question him about his communications with Trump, White House staff and others the week after the May 6 attack. January, “especially when it comes to President Trump’s mood. At the time.”
The committee also wanted to understand how McCarthy’s public comments since the attack had changed over time from critics with Trump to his defense and wondered if Trump had pressured him to change his mind when the couple left. met in late January 2021.
From the panel’s letter to McCarthy, a new audio revealed that in the days following the uprising, the minority leader had considered asking Trump to resign. The audio also exposed McCarthy telling Republican lawmakers at a private conference that Trump had admitted to having some responsibility for the deadly attack.
The panel first contacted Jordan, one of Trump’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill, in December to learn more about his communications with Trump on Jan. 6 and Trump’s allies who were stationed at the Capitol Hill. Willard Hotel’s war room the day before. to attack.
This story has been updated with additional details on Friday.