Pelosi rejects Indiana’s Banks from Jan. 6 committee

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is rejecting an Indiana Republican Congressman’s appointment to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol Insurrection.

Pelosi announced in a statement Wednesday that she would not accept Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana or Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio on the committee.

In the statement, Pelosi called her move an unprecedented decision made for “respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members.”

Just one hour before the Speaker’s announcement, News 8’s Scott Sander spoke with Rep. Banks from Washington, with Banks calling the committee’s work “partisan”.

“There are five Republicans on our side, eight Democrats on their side,” Banks told Sander. “So immediately you can tell this is a partisan-led effort. Many of us had hoped that this would be a truly bipartisan commission. It’s not.”

Banks has been an ardent, vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump.

“This is a partisan stunt, a partisan stunt for the Democrats, and that’s painfully obvious, I believe, to most of the American people,” Banks told Sander. “Democrats want to talk about January 6th, They want to beat up on Donald Trump.”

Banks also told News 8 he believes it is the right decision for Republicans to serve on the committee.

“If no one is sitting in the Republican seats on this committee, then the truth is not going to be told,” Banks said. “If we’re not there to demand answers to questions Democrats don’t want to answer, then that will never happen. That’s our job to ask the tough questions the Democrats don’t want to answer.”