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The Jan. 6 House Select Committee Had To Go Public With Claims That Trump May Have Committed Crimes*
Responsibility to investigate criminal conduct and prosecute crimes falls squarely within the Executive Branch. The January 6 House Select Committee is a legislative body, a creation of the House of Representatives by Resolution, not a criminal investigative or prosecutorial agency.
Recall that Senate Republicans blocked efforts to create a 9/11-type bicameral commission to investigate the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. The House then passed a Resolution to form a select committee to investigate. House Republicans challenged the legitimacy of the Jan. 6 House Select Committee as partisan — even though two members are Republican — after Speaker Pelosi rejected two of Minority Leader McCarthy’s appointees (Jordan and Banks who had sided with the Jan. 6 insurrectionists) over concerns of investigative integrity. McCarthy withdrew his other three appointees.
McCarthy’s strategy has left him the patently suspect ability to argue the findings of the partisan Select Committee cannot be trusted, even though (or maybe because) McCarthy spoke with Trump during the insurrection. During that conversation, he told Trump “[t]his has to stop, and he has to go to the American Public and tell them to stop this.” Trump responded, “Well, Keven, I guess…