US House Speaker Rejected Nominee, Republican Withdraws Members From Capitol Hill Riot Investigation

Donald Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill on January 6. (Wikimedia Commons/Tyler Merbler)

JAKARTA - The Republican Party has decided to withdraw five of its members who were nominated to serve on a special committee of the United States House of Representatives (US), to investigate the Capitol Hill riots, Washington DC on January 6.

The basis of this withdrawal is the rejection of US House Speaker Nacy Pelosi who is also a Democratic Party politician, the majority in the US House of Representatives rejecting the two Republican candidates.

Those rejected by Pelosi were Jim Jordan and Jim Banks, staunch defenders of former President Donald Trump. Originally, they would be on a panel to investigate Trump supporters over the riots on Capitol Hill.

The riots followed an impassioned speech, in which Trump at the time repeated his false claim that his defeat in the US presidential election was the result of widespread deception, urging his supporters to "resist" the election results.

"Out of respect for the integrity of the investigation, with the insistence on truthfulness and with concern about the statements made and the actions taken by this Member, I must reject Banks and Jordan's recommendations on the Elected Committee," Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

"The unprecedented nature of the January 6 riots demands this unprecedented decision," Pelosi said.

Pelosi formed the 13-member panel after Republicans in Congress rejected a bipartisan panel to investigate the violence, which led to hundreds of Trump supporters storming the building, attacking police, smashing windows and prompting then lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence to evacuate for safety.

"Republicans will not be a party to their bogus process and will instead conduct our own investigation of the facts," Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement withdrawing his candidacy.

The Capitol Hill riots, Washington DC, USA. (Wikimedia Commons/TapTheForwardAssist)

Pelosi had previously appointed a Republican, Liz Cheney, to the panel. Pelosi has said she will accept McCarthy's other three nominations, Rodney Davis, Kelly Armstrong and Troy Nehls, and has asked her to choose two new members.

Cheney, who was removed from his Republican leadership position for rejecting Trump's false claims, told reporters he would remain on the commission and agreed with Pelosi's decision.

"I firmly believe that we will conduct a non-partisan investigation," said the daughter of former US Vice President Dick Cheney.

Jordan is a staunch Trump supporter who served as one of his main defenders during two impeachment trials, the last one on charges of inciting the Capitol riots. The Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Donald Trump twice of Democrats' impeachment attempts.

Separately, asked about Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to turn down Republican Representative Jim Jordan and Jim Banks, a staunch defender of Donald Trump, for a panel investigating the January 6 attacks on the Capitol by Trump supporters, Biden said what happened that day was clean.

"I don't care if you think I'm the reincarnation of Satan, the fact is you can't watch that television and say nothing happened on January 6. You can't listen to people who say it's a peaceful march," said President Joe Biden. .

The Capitol Hill riots ahead of the certification process for Joe Biden's victory in January, left four people dead that day. The next day, a policeman who was attacked by protesters died. Meanwhile, more than a hundred police officers were injured as a result of the riots, as well as damage to the Capitol Hill Building.