McCarthy appoints GOP members to lead sweeping commission of inquiry – American News

As part of the internal conference haggling, conference leaders also added language that gives the panel the power to access information shared with the intelligence committee and review “ongoing criminal investigations,” a prospect. which risks causing the Ministry of Justice to back down.

“As long as we stay tight and know what we’re doing before we go in, that’s where Jim Jordan comes in – nobody’s better at it – we’ll be fine,” the rep said. Kelly Armstrong (RN.D.), one of the newly appointed panel members, told POLITICO on Tuesday.

The newly appointed panel members represent the sometimes-disagreeing groups that McCarthy must balance within his conference. While putting Jordan in the driver’s seat and naming other panel allies can help McCarthy try to control him, he also has to keep detractors like Reps out. Chipie Roy (R-Texas) and Dan Bishops (RN.C.) happy to suppress any rebellion before it begins. The swath of members also reflects that suspicion of political motives within the Justice Department and FBI is far from marginal within the House GOP.

He is expected to be at the forefront of skirmishes with the Biden administration, particularly the Justice Department, as Republicans on the panel will be empowered to try to review everything from Jan. 6-related investigations to the search last year for former President Donald Trump. Residence Mar-a-Lago. Republicans signaled they could broaden their scope of inquiry to include agencies and issues such as the Department of Education and big tech.

Some of McCarthy’s close allies snagged spots on the panel. Jordan was long expected to lead the group, and Reps. Elise Stefanik (RN.Y.) and mike johnson (R-La.), two members of the GOP leadership team, also get seats on the subcommittee, along with Armstrong, a McCarthy supporter who helped appoint him a speaker at a closed meeting. closed last year. Stefanik and Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) are also both members of the Intelligence Committee.

Only two of the defectors-turned-McCarthy supporters get a seat: Roy and Bishop. Bishop was an early supporter in the conference from a select committee, while Roy helped broker the deal that got McCarthy the speaker’s gavel.

The other GOP members of the committee will include the representative. Darrell Issa (R-California), Thomas Masse (R-Ky.), Greg Steube (R-Fla.), Kat Camack (R-Fla.) and Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.). Hageman defeated former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), one of two Republicans on the Democratic-led Jan. 6 committee.

Democrats have yet to recommend their own members to the panel. As part of the resolution that enlightened him, Rep. Jerry Nadler (DN.Y.) automatically gets a seat, due to his status as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

Additionally, the resolution stated that McCarthy would appoint 13 members in addition to Jordan and Nadler, including no more than five in consultation with the House Minority Leader. Hakeem Jeffries.

Beyond Jordan, McCarthy’s slate on Tuesday night included 11 GOP members, filling most of the panel’s 13 available slots amid intense interest within his conference. But two aides familiar with the plan said McCarthy intended to pass a second resolution expanding the size of the panel, to accommodate the larger number of Republican appointees. Democrats would also get a commensurate increase, aides said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The panel, which the House approved earlier this month in a party vote, is already a lightning rod for Democratic critics, the Biden administration and their allies, who see it as a way for Republicans to use their new majority to enact political revenge. .

“Jim Jordan and Kevin McCarthy claim to be investigating the militarization of the federal government when in fact this new select subcommittee is the weapon itself. It is specifically designed to inject extremist policies into our justice system and protect the MAGA movement of the legal consequences of their actions,” Nadler said in a recent statement on the panel.

But Republicans have defended the decision to create the panel as necessary to monitor the FBI and the Justice Department, two of the party’s biggest targets in recent years. They also pointed to an inspector general’s report that found the FBI abused its surveillance powers to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser.

McCarthy argued that Democrats have used their last two years of unified control of Washington to “target political opponents.”

“The government has a responsibility to serve the American people, not to prosecute them,” he added.

Olivia Beavers and Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.