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Still Think the Jan. 6 Committee is Above Politics?


 

Article by Michael Dorstewitz in NewsMax


Still Think the Jan. 6 Committee is Above Politics?

Any question that the House Select Committee on the January 6 attack amounts to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s own personal kangaroo court should have disappeared this week.

During a Wednesday night appearance on MSNBC, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told host Rachel Maddow that witnesses can prove their guilt by exercising their Fifth Amendment constitutional right.

At issue was a statement made by former Trump Justice Department official Jeffery Clark, indicating that if he appears before the committee under subpoena, he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
Maddow asked Thompson what the implications would be in the event Clark were to follow through with this.
"The implications is we will give Mr. Clark his right to assert his Fifth Amendment before the committee if he chooses. We’ve been negotiating with Mr. Clark since October. We’re doing everything we can to show we're not partisan," Thompson told Maddow.
Then he showed Maddow and her viewers exactly how partisan he and the other committee members actually are.
"But you know, if you say you haven't done anything wrong, but on the other hand, you want to assert the Fifth Amendment in terms of self-prosecution, it says that you have something to hide. So we're going to give him an opportunity to do it," he continued.
And at that point it got really insane.
“He can do it and it will be under oath and he is still subject to certain penalties should he decide to not tell us anything,” Thompson added.
"If he is saying, 'I’ll come but I’ll plead the Fifth,’ in some instances that says you are part and parcel guilty to what occurred," he said.
That very issue came up during last month’s Kenosha, Wisconsin murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, when Judge Bruce Schroeder admonished the prosecutor for questioning Rittenhouse on why he chose to remain silent about the incident until the time of trial. The judge was incensed.
"The problem is this is a grave constitutional violation for you to talk about the defendant’s silence," Schroder said. "You're right on the borderline, and you may be over it. But it better stop."
It’s basic black-letter constitutional law. You cannot hold a person’s right to exercise his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent against him.
But this wasn’t the first hint that the committee was ultra-partisan. It became evident back in July that the January 6 Committee would be heavily weighted against the GOP in general, and Trump supporters in particular.
Each party’s leaders appoint members of their own caucus to the various congressional committees. Those selections are based on each member’s tenure, expertise, and desire to serve on particular committees.
But Pelosi summarily rejected Minority leader Kevin McCarthy’s appointment of Republican Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio — both vocal Trump supporters.
"With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee," Pelosi said in a statement, before acknowledging that her action was highly unusual.
"The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision," the House Speaker added.
McCarthy shot back, "Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts."
After that, Pelosi herself appointed two nominal Republicans to the committee: Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming.
Cheney claimed that it was McCarthy’s fault that the committee included no Republicans that he had appointed. Considering the politics of Cheney an Kinzinger, the committee arguably has no Republicans at all.
Cheney added that in recognition of McCarthy’s decision, "Chairman Thompson decided that this will be a nonpartisan investigation, and that is how we are proceeding."
Nope. It’s just the opposite. It’s hyper-partisan. And any "findings" or "conclusions" the committee makes should be considered works of fiction.
The committee has reached the point of assuming guilt until proven innocent.
And as for MSNBC inviting Thompson to spew this nonsense, author and political commentator Dave Rubin observed that the network has become "a 24 mental institution."
 
 


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