(Tony Sifert, Headline USA) Facing criticism from former President Donald Trump, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has stood by his decision to withdraw his Republican selections from the House’s J6 Committee.
NEW: Trump to @PunchbowlNews: “I think in retrospect [McCarthy should’ve put Republicans on] to just have a voice. The Republicans don’t have a voice. They don’t even have anything to say.”
— Anna Palmer (@apalmerdc) June 22, 2022
Trump told Punchbowl News that McCarthy ought to have kept his members on the committee so that Republicans could have some representation to the right of notorious RINOs Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
“I think it would have been very smart to put [Republicans on the committee] . . . I think it would have been good if we had representation,” Trump said.
Trump suggested that McCarthy should have countered Pelosi’s removal of Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks by selecting other Republicans.
“[Jim Banks and Jim Jordan] were great . . . but when Pelosi wrongfully didn’t allow them, we should’ve picked other people,” Trump said. “We have a lot of good people in the Republican Party.”
McCarthy responded by defending his decision and critiquing the “purely political process” that governed the assembly of the J6 Committee, the Examiner reported.
“Pelosi is going to pick and choose,” McCarthy said. “So the only Republicans that would be on it would be the ones that Pelosi would allow on — it would be no different outcome in this thing.”
Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., came to McCarthy’s defense, according to Politico.
“Kevin made the only decision he could,” she said. “What are we going to do? Allow them to just functionally silence entire constituencies?”
According to Politico, Trump’s second-guessing of a House leader he has referred to as the future “Speaker” leaves room for the former president change his mind on McCarthy.
“As the former president weighs his own 2024 bid, he’s leaving just enough room to turn on McCarthy if he chooses to,” Politico wrote.
