The Jan. 6 select committee has not requested documents or testimony from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who Republicans note was solely in charge of Capitol security before it was breached by protesters seeking to object to the certification of President Joe Biden's election.
"No, no, I keep as far away from the committee as possible," Pelosi told reporters during her press briefing Thursday.
But, she said, "If they asked me, I would."
Pelosi then seemed to suggest she has nothing to provide the committee, saying "but I don't," before switching gears to say, "I was on the podium, then I was swept away."
Republicans, including former President Donald Trump are adamant the responsibility for Capitol security Jan. 6 lies solely with the House speaker, calling on the Jan. 6 committee to bring her forward like it has myriad advisers and staffers of the Trump administration.
The House has held two in contempt of Congress for not fully participating with the committee's requests for private communications, Steve Bannon and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Asked if the seven Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans on the committee have any intentions of discussing Pelosi's role in Capitol security, the speaker said, "I have no idea," under the guise of assuring committee independence.
"I know about what they do the way you do: in the public domain," she continued. "We authorize them, give them the resources that they need to do what they do, but that is the work of the committee. It has nothing to do with me."
But Trump and many Republicans believe Jan. 6 security has everything to do with Pelosi.
"Why is Crazy Nancy Pelosi and her files, which reportedly have been largely destroyed and deleted, not under investigation for not properly securing the Capitol with soldiers or the National Guard that were strongly recommended to her by me and others?" Trump wrote Thursday in a pointed statement from his Save America PAC.
"I knew the crowd would be extraordinarily large because they were protesting the RIGGED ELECTION. Capitol security was her job, not the president's, and the American people now know that.
"If she did with security what she should have, there would have been no 'January 6' as we know it. The Fake Unselect Committee wants nothing to do with that subject because they know it was the fault of Nancy Pelosi and, to a lesser extent, the mayor of D.C.
"So, if I recommend soldiers and if she refused to use them, why am I, and those around me, responsible for anything? We're not, plain and simple!"
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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