House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday he will not voluntarily offer testimony to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Capitol riot after the panel had asked him to do so.
“As a representative and the leader of the minority party, it is with neither regret nor satisfaction that I have concluded to not participate with this select committee’s abuse of power that stains this institution today and will harm it going forward,” McCarthy said in a statement.
“This committee is not conducting a legitimate investigation as Speaker Pelosi took the unprecedented action of rejecting the Republican members I named to serve on the committee,” he added. “It is not serving any legislative purpose. The committee’s only objective is to attempt to damage its political opponents — acting like the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee one day and the DOJ the next.”
McCarthy’s statement comes in response to a letter the committee sent the GOP leader earlier on Wednesday requesting that he submit himself for a voluntary interview.
The letter explained that the Democrat-led committee is looking for information involving McCarthy’s communications with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and details about former president Donald Trump’s state of mind during the Capitol riot.
“We also must learn about how the President’s plans for January 6th came together, and all the other ways he attempted to alter the results of the election,” read the letter, which was written by committee chair Representative Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.)
“For example, in advance of January 6th, you reportedly explained to Mark Meadows and the former President that objections to the certification of the electoral votes on January 6th ‘was doomed to fail,’” the letter added.
Thompson wrote that the committee has text messages from multiple witnesses identifying “significant concerns following January 6th held by White House staff and the President’s supporters regarding President Trump’s state of mind and his ongoing conduct.”
The letter said it appears McCarthy had “one or more conversations with the President during this period” and that the GOP leader discussed with Trump that he would potentially face a censure resolution, impeachment, or removal under the 25th Amendment.
Both Representatives Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) and Scott Perry (R., Pa.) both previously declined when requested to voluntarily provide interviews to the committee.
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