House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wrote a letter to Republican conference members Sunday accusing Democrats of politicizing the Jan. 6 Capitol attack to "divide" the country.
McCarthy ripped Democrats for failing to answer "the central question of how the Capitol was left so unprepared and what must be done to ensure it never happens again."
"Instead, they are using it as a partisan political weapon to further divide our country," McCarthy, R-Calif., wrote in his letter.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi's partisan select committee — comprised of Democrats and anti-Trump Republican Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. — is investigating events surrounding the Capitol attack.
The panel, which has focused on former President Donald Trump and his allies, last week said the Supreme Court should let stand an appeals court ruling that the National Archives turn over documents from Trump that might shed light on the events leading up to and including that day.
"As we have said from the start, the actions of that day were lawless and as wrong as wrong can be," McCarthy wrote. "Our Capitol should never be compromised and those who broke the law deserve to face legal repercussions and full accountability.
"Unfortunately, one year later, the majority party seems no closer to answering the central question of how the Capitol was left so unprepared and what must be done to ensure it never happens again. Instead, they are using it as a partisan political weapon to further divide our country."
McCarthy informed his GOP colleagues that Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., ranking member on the House Administration Committee, would pass out a memorandum on how congressional offices can keep the Capitol secure against potential threats — "steps that the current majority party is negligent in acting upon," McCarthy wrote.
With Republicans currently favored to take control of the House in November’s midterm elections, McCarthy hopes to replace Pelosi as speaker.
McCarthy's criticism of the Jan. 6 probe came after the leader pulled all of his Republican candidates from the House select committee to protest Pelosi rejecting two of his picks.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, one of McCarthy’s picks for the committee rejected by Pelosi, said the panel is attempting to "mislead the American people."
Jordan received a letter from committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., seeking his cooperation with the probe.
The select committee on Dec. 15 acknowledged altering a text Jordan had forwarded to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to The Federalist.
"We're gonna review the letter, but I've got to be honest with you, I got real concerns about any committee that will take a document and alter it and present it to the American people, completely mislead the American people like they did last week," Jordan told Fox News on Dec. 22.
"And, it turns out, it looks like it wasn't just one document they did this with. It was others, other text messages as well. So, I got real concerns with that."
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