Schumer blasts McCarthy for picking people who ‘supported the big lie’ for Jan. 6 panel

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “had no choice” in rejecting Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) nominees to her Jan. 6 committee.

Schumer was asked on ABC’s “The View” what he thought of Pelosi’s decision the previous day to reject Republican Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Jim Banks (Ind.).

“Well, you know she had no choice,” Schumer said.

“I couldn’t believe that Leader McCarthy put [forward] two people who said basically — who really didn’t believe, who sort of supported the big lie that did all this, you know that the election was stolen and Donald Trump should really be president, which has no factual basis. So she was right not to let them stay on the commission,” Schumer said.

Schumer stated that it was “better to have this,” a commission mostly made up Democrats and the lone Republican Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), than to have lawmakers who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election on the commission.

.@SenSchumer tells @TheView House Speaker Pelosi “had no choice” but to reject two of Minority Leader McCarthy’s Jan. 6 select committee picks, GOP Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks: “She was right not to let them stay on.” https://t.co/f8u2wbJuik pic.twitter.com/ZjTXjRvkh2

— The View (@TheView) July 22, 2021

The Democratic leader urged viewers to watch a video The New York Times compiled of the Jan. 6 attack.

“I was within 25 feet of these insurrectionists. Had one of them had a gun, had two of them rushed to block off the door, Lord knows what would have happened,” Schumer said.

“There should have been a 9/11-type commission. After 9/11, Democrats and Republicans came together, appointed a panel of experts, nonpartisan, to look into it and they put out a very good report. We followed a lot of their recommendations subsequently to that. But Leader McConnell blocked that here in the Senate, he would not let that come forward,” he added, referring to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “So Speaker Pelosi had no choice but to move on her own.”

On Thursday, it was reported that Pelosi was considering Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for the Jan. 6 select committee. Kinzinger, like Cheney, has become a prominent Republican voice calling for the party to separate itself from former President Trump.

Pelosi on Thursday said she “will not let” GOP “antics stand in the way” of the investigation.

“It’s my responsibility as Speaker of the House to make sure we get to the truth on this, and we will not let their antics stand in the way of that,” Pelosi said during a press conference.