Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., brushed off the possibility that he could lose his committee assignments if he goes against his fellow Republicans and joins Democrats’ Jan. 6 investigation.
“Who gives a shit?” Kinzinger told Politico on Thursday.
“I do think the threat of removing committees is ironic, because you won’t go after the space lasers and White supremacist people but those who tell the truth,” he continued, appearing to reference Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who posted on Facebook in 2018 about “lasers or blue beams of light” run by secret elites starting the California wildfires.
Kinzinger did not tell Politico whether he’d serve on the committee but said “we’ll see how this whole thing shakes out.”
Earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., introduced a bill to create a House Select Committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“Today, I voted in support of the Select Committee (H.Res.503) because the truth matters,” Kinzinger said in a statement on Monday. “Because it is our duty to conduct a thorough investigation of this most egregious attack on the Capitol. Because the American people – and especially the families of our brave law enforcement on the front lines that day – deserve answers.”
As I have said before, we cannot let fear stop us from doing what is right. While I believe an independent bipartisan commission is the best approach, I voted today in support of establishing a Select Committee for January 6th–because the truth matters. https://t.co/MMCpP31eWp pic.twitter.com/ZnJxRCZYRI
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) June 30, 2021
On Thursday, Pelosi named Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney to the 13-member committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, making her the lone GOP appointee among Pelosi’s eight picks.
“We’re very honored and proud that she has agreed to serve on the committee,” Pelosi said Thursday in announcing Cheney’s appointment.
Cheney, already ousted from GOP House leadership for routinely blaming former President Donald Trump for sparking the attack, joined with all Democrats Wednesday to vote in favor of forming the committee along with Kinzinger.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has yet to announce whether he’ll make his designated five GOP appointments to the committee or withhold membership altogether.
McCarthy said he’s “not threatening anybody” with committee removal, but pointed out that Cheney broke tradition by seeking a committee assignment from the speaker when committee membership is decided by the leadership of a rep’s own party.
“For somebody to accept committee assignments from Speaker Pelosi – that’s unprecedented,” McCarthy said Thursday of his former conference chairwoman.
He suggested that by accepting a committee assignment from the opposing party a Republican should no longer “expect” to have committee slots from their own party. Cheney currently sits on the powerful House Armed Services Committee.
