Article by Congressman Andy Biggs in Townhall
The January 6 Committee is an Illegitimate Operation
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, runs an illegitimate operation. She bullies. She changes the traditions of the House. She changes the rules. And, often, she ignores the rules.
She has turned the Capitol into a fortress to keep the American people out. She has turned the Capitol Police into the TSA, wanding and frisking members as they enter the House Chambers to vote or debate.
Most egregiously, she created an illegitimate committee in an attempt to intimidate members of Congress, attack President Donald Trump and his supporters, and to distract Americans from the disastrous performance of herself, Chuck Schumer (Senate Majority Leader), and President Joe Biden.
She started by insisting Congress investigate the riot that took place at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. This, even though multiple law enforcement agencies under the authority of the Department of Justice are investigating.
The Democrats, in a half-hearted attempt at bipartisanship, promised that there would be 13 members on the Committee, five of whom would be Republicans. An 8-5 split on the Committee doesn’t reflect the actual ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the House, but we have grown accustomed to Pelosi’s disregard of institutional norms of ratios reflecting the make-up of the House.
The promise by Pelosi turned out to be untrue because when Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy named his five nominees to the Committee, Pelosi booted two of them off. The other three Republicans rightfully rejected participating in the witch-hunt in protest.
In response, Pelosi appointed two former Republicans, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, to fill the Committee. These two have a more virulent strain of Trump Derangement Syndrome than any of the Far Left in Congress. And, that’s really saying something.
The Committee operates with the same kind of bias present at the Salem Witch Trials. Everyone is guilty and must demonstrate their innocence. They effectively tie up everyone then throw them into the lake. If they float they are guilty. If they sink to the bottom, well, they drown, but they are innocent in death.
Here’s some examples of how they have rounded up “witches” and demonstrated an utter lack of intellectual curiosity.
When Steve Bannon indicated that he was respecting President Trump’s assertion of executive privilege and would thus not testify to the Committee, they held him in contempt and Attorney General Merrick Garland filed criminal charges against Bannon.
When Jeffrey Clark stated that he would appear, but when appropriate he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination, the Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, stated that anyone who would invoke that right would be presumed to be guilty. Of course, that is contrary to the Constitution and law in every jurisdiction, but that doesn’t matter. The Democrats, together with Cheney and Kinzinger, are intending to hold Clark in contempt.
When President Trump’s former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, was negotiating with the duplicitous Bennie Thompson on how to respond to the Committee’s subpoenas, he offered to provide them documents not covered by executive privilege.
In the meantime, President Trump’s lawsuit exerting executive privilege, continues to wind its way through the labyrinthian path of our judicial system.
That Meadows would provide 9,000 pages of documents to the Committee, and was in the process of negotiating in good faith on when to appear to discuss those documents, should have been an adequate step for the Committee. But, without notice they subpoenaed Meadows’s personal phone records. That breach of good faith resulted in Meadows’s decision to break off negotiations and file a lawsuit against Thompson, Cheney, and all of the malevolent members of the Committee.
Meadows was found in contempt by Congress. You just can’t work with a kangaroo court.
The next step in the Inquisition is to attack members of Congress. Why would any member of Congress choose to appear before a mob that was formed illegitimately and desires to kick them out of Congress and put them behind bars.
Robert Mueller found there was no Russian collusion in the 2016 election, nevertheless, the radical Lefties in Congress continue to propagate a lie that Russians produced the Trump victory. Similarly, Pelosi and her committee of anti-Trump sycophants, deny the testimony of FBI Director Christopher Wray that contradicts their narrative.
Wray debunked the “insurrection” claim. He effectively laid waste to the grand conspiracy to riot at the Capitol argument. And, it has been reported that the FBI investigation concluded that the riot in the Capitol on January 6th was spontaneous rather than organized.
If there was a legitimate investigation by Congress it would be answering questions like, what role did Pelosi have in preventing law enforcement from having adequate personnel and material to protect the Capitol; why is there disparate treatment of January 6th prisoners and BLM/Antifa mobsters that rioted throughout the country for months. Finally, why was there a lack of training and equipment for law enforcement?
In parting, two action items remain. The first is to acknowledge the illegitimacy and bias of this gaggle of witch hunters by refusing to participate in their offer to tie up and toss political opponents into the lake.
The second is for the Republican leadership to remove Cheney and Kinzinger from the Republican Conference. Why would you allow two people who have decided to burn down the Republican apparatus in Congress and expel Republicans from Congress, to have the cover of being Republicans? They’re not.
No rational person can see any objective good coming from this “Committee.” Stop pretending. Ignore this group of unimpressive, hateful, Trump-obsessed loons.
