House GOP leader opposes bi-partisan deal to form Jan. 6 panel

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he was opposed to a bipartisan agreement struck last week that would create an independent commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

McCarthy’s opposition comes ahead of a vote this week that House Democrats have scheduled to pass legislation to create the panel modeled after the 9/11 Commission that would be tasked with investigating the circumstances behind supporters of then-President Donald Trump breaching the Capitol to try to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote for President Joe Biden.

In a statement explaining his opposition, McCarthy accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of failing to negotiate in good faith, while saying that the scope of the proposed legislation needed to also look at other episodes of political violence beyond January 6.

“Given the political misdirections that have marred this process, given the now duplicative and potentially counterproductive nature of this effort, and given the Speaker’s shortsighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation,” McCarthy said.

The bipartisan agreement for the commission was reached by House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson and the panel’s top Republican, Rep. John Katko of New York, who was one of the 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol.