Banks blames Pelosi for Jan. 6 ‘breakdown of security’

Rep. Jim Banks (Ind.), one of the two GOP lawmakers rejected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) from serving on the Jan. 6 committee, accused the Speaker on Sunday of being responsible for the “breakdown of security” that day that led to a mob storming the Capitol. 

“Due to the rules of the United States Capitol, the power structure of the Capitol, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, has more control and authority and responsibility over the leadership of the Capitol Police than anyone else in the United States Capitol,” Banks said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”

“So she doesn’t want us to ask these questions because, at the end of the day, she is ultimately responsible for the breakdown of security at the capitol that happened on Jan. 6,” he said.

A mob of former President Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes. They did so after weeks in which Trump said the election had been stolen from him, a baseless claim that the former president has continued to make in the months since the attack.

Trump was impeached for inciting the mob, though the Senate did not convict him. There were notably GOP votes in the House to impeach him and to convict him in the Senate.

Five people died in connection to the violence on Jan. 6. 

Pelosi blocked Banks and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) from serving on the select committee after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) picked them.

Banks said he was rejected because Pelosi “doesn’t want to talk about what happened at the Capitol that day” and is “only interested in a narrative.”

Pelosi said last week that she rejected Banks and Jordan due to concerns over how their appointments would affect the “integrity of the investigation.” She accepted the three remaining appointees from McCarthy, though the GOP leader withdrew all his nominees in protest of Pelosi’s decision on Banks and Jordan.

Banks, a staunch ally of Trump, had questioned the “legality” of the 2020 election and was a supporter of the Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the election results in other states where President Biden won.

Pelosi on Sunday said she planned to appoint Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), a vocal GOP critic of Trump, to the Jan. 6 select committee. She had already named Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to the panel.

Both backed Trump’s impeachment.

“It’s clear that Pelosi only wants members on this committee who will stick to her talking points and stick to her narrative,” Banks said of Kinzinger’s possible nomination. “That’s why she’s picked the group that she’s already picked, and anyone that she asked to be on this committee from this point moving forward will be stuck to her, her narrative, to her point of view.”