Jan. 6 committee pushes back against McCarthy, GOP ‘legitimacy’ complaints

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol is blasting Republican attacks on the panel’s legitimacy, contending in a court filing that the argument is “fatally flawed” and ignores precedent set by the Republicans themselves.

The legal counterattack — the committee’s first detailed legal response to the challenges against it — came in a filing Wednesday night responding to allegations by former President Donald Trump’s spokesman, Taylor Budowich, and as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said he wouldn’t comply with the panel’s request for an interview because it is “not conducting a legitimate investigation.”

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters Thursday that he was “disappointed” by McCarthy’s decision, and that a subpoena is “under discussion.”

“We have information that he made calls to the White House, telling him (Trump) he needed to call the people off,” Thompson said. “And for whatever reason, he decided not to come to the committee and say what many things he said in public.”

At his weekly press briefing Thursday, McCarthy dodged questions about how he would respond if the committee were to subpoena him. He also said his phone conversation with Trump during the riot was “very short” and he was “advising the president what was happening here.”

“There is nothing that I can provide the Jan. 6 committee for legislation of them moving forward,” he said. “There is nothing in that realm. It is pure politics.”

In a lawsuit filed last month, Budowich contended the committee’s subpoena of his financial records is invalid because “it lacks the lawful authority” to issue subpoena records. Echoing arguments made by other Trump allies who’ve sought to block subpoenas by the committee, Budowich’s lawyers contended that the panel is improperly constituted because it doesn’t have enough members, doesn’t include Republicans appointed by McCarthy, and lacks a legislative purpose.

In its response, filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, the committee said Budowich’s arguments are “wrong on the merits” and “badly flawed.”

The panel is considering several bills it could recommend passing as a result of its probe, and a federal court judge has already found that the committee “plainly has a ‘valid legislative purpose.'”

Budowich and his lawyers also say House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “has appointed only nine members to the select committee, rather than the thirteen allowed for by the resolution” creating the committee. But that resolution “does not require that all thirteen members be appointed for the select committee to be validly constituted or to conduct business,” the committee’s lawyers said.

The Jan. 6 panel’s filing noted that a select committee to investigate Hurricane Katrina allowed for 20 members, but then-Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert only appointed 11 members, all of whom were Republicans.

The filing also argues that Pelosi had no obligation to name McCarthy’s picks to the panel. The resolution, which passed the Democratic-controlled House, said Pelosi would appoint Republican members to the panel “after consultation with” McCarthy.

“Here, there can be no serious contention that House Resolution 503 was not followed: the minority leader was consulted,” the filing says.

McCarthy initially gave Pelosi the names of five Republicans he wanted to join the committee, including Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a possible witness who’d spoken to Trump on Jan. 6, and Jim Banks of Indiana, who called the panel a sham.

McCarthy wound up withdrawing all five names after Pelosi said she would not seat either Jordan or Banks on the panel. There are currently two Republicans on the committee, Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, and the panel officially asked to interview Jordan last month. He’s indicated he won’t cooperate.

That Pelosi “made different selections as to two of the members, and that the minority leader subsequently withdrew his recommendations, does not make the select committee improperly constituted, nor does it invalidate any of its actions,” the filing says.

The committee on Wednesday asked to interview McCarthy — who, like Jordan, spoke to Trump during the riot on Jan. 6 — and he said he would not, citing concerns about the committee’s composition and lack of legislative purpose.

Sources have previously told NBC News that McCarthy and Trump got into an expletive-laden argument during the call, with Trump telling McCarthy, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”

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