House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that it's her "plan" to appoint more Republicans, and likely Rep. Adam Kinzinger to the January 6th committee. After Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took his ball and went home after Pelosi rejected his picks of Gym Jordan and Jim Banks for the committee, apparently the Free-Dumb caucus is threatening to "depose" Pelosi as speaker.
Stephanopoulos asked Pelosi if she was concerned about the "threat" and whether she was "confident that the committee's work can be seen as credible, if most Republicans won't participate."
Pelosi rightfully swatted down their latest temper tantrum. "First of all, no, I'm not concerned about any threat from the Freedom Caucus. We get those every day of the week," Pelosi responded. "Our confidence that we have in the work of our bipartisan committee that we have now, select committee, led by Chairman Bennie Thompson, bipartisan, with the participation of a very courageous number of Congress, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, is high. My confidence is high."
After telling Stephanopoulos that she was certain the committee would accomplish their goal of retaining the confidence of the American people and act in a non-partisan manner, Pelosi said they should "ignore the antics" of those that "do not want to find the truth."
When asked whether she would appoint more Republicans to the committee such as Congressman Adam Kinzinger, Pelosi told Stephanopoulos "that would be my plan" but said she wouldn't make any formal announcement until perhaps after she spoke to Kinzinger.
"You could say that that is the direction that I would be going on. He has -- he and other Republicans have expressed an interest to serve on the select committee," Pelosi continued, before explaining that she was not willing to appoint people such as Jordan and Banks, who would have jeopardized the integrity of the investigation. "There's no way I would tolerate their antics as we seek the truth."
Stephanopoulos couldn't stop himself from more concern trolling, and asked Pelosi whether about Sen. Rob Portman's assertion that her decision would "fuel even more division in the country."
"Are you worried at all by this precedent, that Republicans will do the same thing when they are next in power?" Stephanopoulos pressed, as though Republicans need an excuse to behave badly when they're running the show.
"No," Pelosi shot back. "What we have -- look, we have had an unprecedented action, an assault, an insurrection against our government, an assault on the Capitol Building, which is an assault on the Congress, on a day that the Constitution required us, by the Constitution, to validate the work of the Electoral College."
"So, this was not just any day of the week. This was a constitutionally required day of action for Congress," she continued. "Republicans will say what they will say. Our select committee will seek the truth. It's our patriotic duty to do so. And we do not come into our work worried about what the other side, who has been afraid of this -- maybe the Republicans can't handle the truth, but we have a responsibility to seek it, to find it and in a way that retains the confidence of the American people."
Republicans were never concerned about getting to the truth, or acting in good faith, but Stephanopoulos along with a good deal of our media continues to frame their questions on this commission as though they can be ever be trusted to do otherwise.
Stepho hasn't quite joined the ranks of CNN's Chris Cillizza, but he's getting there.
UPDATE: In a statement, Speaker Pelosi announced that she has added Rep. Kinzinger to the Select Committee.
"Today, I am announcing the appointment of Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, an Air Force veteran and Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard, to serve on the Select Committee. He brings great patriotism to the Committee's mission: to find the facts and protect our Democracy," she wrote.
Today, I was asked to serve on the bipartisan January 6th Select Committee and I humbly accepted. When duty calls, I will always answer. https://t.co/MszEBc0V7I pic.twitter.com/flIdSfYzZV
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) July 25, 2021
