Former President Donald Trump now says it was “foolish” not to create a more bipartisan Jan. 6 House committee to investigate the insurrection.
But it was his party, influenced by him, that stonewalled participation, apparently hoping the probe would die on the vine.
“A bad decision was made,” Trump said in an interview with conservative radio host Wayne Allyn Root on his program, “Raw & Unfiltered.” It was a “bad decision not to have [Republican] representation on that committee,” he added.
Trump emphasized: “That was a very, very foolish decision.”
Now, he claims, the investigation is a “one-sided witch hunt.”
The House select committee was formed last year after Senate Republicans voted to block creation of a bipartisan 9/11-style commission to probe the Capitol riot.
Trump at the time called such a commission a “Democrat trap.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had claimed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wasn’t negotiating in “good faith” on commission details. But Pelosi agreed that members be divided evenly between parties, and that unanimous agreement would be required before any subpoenas were issued.
Democrats then sought to form a bipartisan House select committee. But Republicans stonewalled that, too, after Pelosi refused committee slots to two of five lawmakers recommended by McCarthy: Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana.
Both men had voted to overturn the results of the presidential election based on lies that the vote was rigged, which Pelosi said would undermine the integrity of the panel.
McCarthy then yanked all five of his recommendations and stopped cooperating to create a bipartisan panel.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) are currently the only Republicans participating with seven Democrats on the House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.
Now a string of Republicans from the Trump administration are testifying against their former boss about his role inciting the violent storming of the Capitol last year.
According to a new ABC New/Ipsos poll, 60% of Americans surveyed believe the panel is conducting a “fair and impartial” investigation, and 58% believe that Trump should be charged for his role in the insurrection.
