The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack of the U.S. Capitol is approaching a pivotal juncture in its work. This month, the committee will hold a series of public hearings about the campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and the assault on American institutions it represented.
Meanwhile, the bipartisan panel—assisted by dozens of professional staff, including former federal prosecutors who served administrations of both parties—continues to pursue additional information to ensure its investigation produces a full accounting of those events and their causes. After learning that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), and Scott Perry (R-Pa.) may have firsthand knowledge relevant to the inquiry, the committee sought their voluntary testimony. When those representatives declined to cooperate, the committee issued subpoenas.
The congressmen have refused to comply. On May 26, Reps. McCarthy and Jordan took to the Wall Street Journal to explain why. The pair raised a number of arguments, questioning the committee’s legitimacy and bemoaning its supposedly partisan composition. They described their subpoenas as “abusive” and alleged that they lacked a valid legislative purpose.
These arguments have been roundly refuted elsewhere, including by a Trump-appointed judge in a federal district court and by an appellate court. There is no need to do so again here. Instead, it is more important to be clear about the arguments’ purpose: to distract the public from the heart of the grave matter at hand.
On Jan. 6, a violent effort to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election results claimed the lives of our law enforcement, desecrated the seat of our government, and severed America’s unbroken tradition of peacefully transferring power. It was an attack on our country and the values we share as Americans.
That McCarthy and his colleagues may have relevant knowledge and are refusing to share it should concern every American who wishes never to see a repeat of these disgraceful events.
Although it is rare for a congressional committee to subpoena sitting lawmakers, the select committee’s task and the subject of its probe are unprecedented in American history. Recognizing this extraordinary circumstance, we recently penned a letter with 21 other Republican former members of the House urging these lawmakers to provide their testimony and help move the country forward—as should anyone with potentially relevant information. Politicians are no exception.
McCarthy and his colleagues claim that they have no relevant information to share. This is plainly false. Shortly after the attack, Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) recounted McCarthy’s description of a phone call he had with the former president during the attack, in which the former president seemed to side with rioters besieging the Capitol. Jordan also confirmed that he spoke with the former president on Jan. 6. And numerous outlets have reported on Jordan’s involvement in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results prior to that day, including his proposal that Vice President Mike Pence unilaterally and unlawfully reject electoral votes from states President Biden had won.
Cooperating with investigators would help to repair the damage to American institutions inflicted by these events. Instead, McCarthy and his colleagues have chosen to stonewall that effort.
Like us, these lawmakers swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The violent attack on the Capitol—the culmination of a months-long campaign to overturn the election results—represented an assault on both. To bear true faith to their oaths, McCarthy and his colleagues should comply with the inquiry. In doing so, they would hardly be alone. A long line of other Republican leaders have put concern for country and the defense of our system of government before other considerations by testifying in investigations at key moments in our nation’s past.
The choice these lawmakers face is simple: to buck that tradition and impede our national recovery or to help the country chart a more secure path forward.
Ribble served in Congress from 2011-2017 and Rigell served in Congress from 2011-2017.
