House Democrats played fast and loose with the rules when they formed the Jan. 6 Select Committee, according to a new report released by the oversight panel of the House Administration Committee.
The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, Georgia Republican, is scrutinizing how the Democrat-dominated panel investigated the events of Jan. 6, 2021, the day the Capitol was breached by pro-Trump supporters.
The report questions the Select Committee’s subpoena power of documents and individuals based on long-established House rules that the panel, GOP investigators say, never abided by.
It contends that then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi stacked the committee with opponents of former President Donald Trump, vetoing Republican appointments from then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
“Unlike every previous select committee, House Democrats and Speaker Pelosi refused to permit the minority party to select the minority members appointed to a select committee,” the report stated.
The release of the report comes in the wake of former Trump White House aide Peter Navarro being ordered to report to a Miami prison on March 19 to begin serving a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the Select Committee.
House Democrats passed a resolution establishing the Select Committee six months after the Capitol riot to investigate the attack by a vote of 222-190, with all Democrats voting in favor. Only two Republican lawmakers voted in favor of its passage — Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, both outspoken foes of Mr. Trump who ended up serving on the committee.
The Select Committee, the report stated, went forward without adopting internal committee rules to govern panel operations, as required of all other House committees. This gave Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, an unprecedented amount of power, the report said.
The Select Committee spent about $13.8 million in 2021 and 2022 combined. However, the report estimates that the Select Committee spent around $19 million in other expenses, adding that it spent a significant amount of taxpayer dollars on outside contractors.
This amount is significantly higher than the $7 million spent by the Select Committee on Benghazi, which is the only select committee in history to operate with the same blank-check appropriation.
“Traditionally, budget and staff slots are allocated between the majority and minority on committees and select committees under House precedent and practice,” the report said. “However, because Speaker Pelosi hand-picked every member of the Select Committee, there was no division of resources between the majority and minority.”
GOP investigators said that Ms. Cheney’s appointment as vice chair by Mr. Thompson broke House rules, which stipulate the chair and vice chair must be of the majority party.
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of a select committee subpoena for several reasons, including Ms. Cheney’s role as vice chair.
House Democrats argued in court that Ms. Cheney, although she was designated as vice chairman instead of ranking member, “by virtue of being the first minority party appointment to the Select Committee, is, by definition, the senior ranking minority member of the Select Committee.”
Mr. Thompson’s spokeswoman, Yasmine Brown, said courts have considered and rejected the alleged rules violations cited in the GOP report.
“Even more importantly, Republicans did not raise any procedural objections to the Select Committee when it existed,” she said. “The House and the courts have been very clear on this. If there were procedural defects in the Select Committee’s subpoena authority, the House or the courts could have ruled on those at the time the Select Committee existed. But neither the House nor the courts found any such defects.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.