Former President Donald Trump said it was a very foolish decision made by House Minority Leader McCarthy to pull all his nominees from the panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“Unfortunately, a bad decision was made,” Trump told conservative radio host Wayne Allyn Root in an interview.
“It was a bad decision not to have representation on that committee,” Trump continued. “That was a very, very foolish decision because they try to pretend like they’re legit, and only when you get into the inner workings you say ‘what kind of a thing is this?’ Just a one-sided witch hunt.”
McCarthy initially supported the idea of having a bipartisan committee investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. He later backed out claiming that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “refused to negotiate in good faith on basic parameters,” even though Democrats agreed to nearly every Republican request, including each party having 5 members on the committee.
McCarthy tried to appoint pro-Trump Reps. Jim Banks (Ind) and Jim Jordan (Ohio) -who has been called to testify–to the committee but Pelosi rejected them. McCarthy responded by pulling all five of his nominees.
Pelosi then appointed Republican Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) to the committee.
McCarthy would not have opposed the bipartisan committee if Trump hadn’t rejected it, calling the committee a “Democrat trap.”
“We have no representation on this panel. We should have, certainly, some Republicans — real Republicans,” Trump complained to Root. “It’s a terrible thing when you look at it. It’s a totally one-sided kangaroo court. In a way, the Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.”
Trump also seemed to take a dig at McCarthy over the possibility of whether he’ll be Speaker of the House if Republicans retake the majority after the midterms. He told Root that he endorsed McCarthy in his House race “but I haven’t endorsed anyone for Speaker.”
