Opinion: McCarthy Can’t Shield Republicans From Being Implicated in Trump’s Insurrection

Despite Trump’s January 6 seditious conspiracy was the worst attack on America by domestic terrorists since the Civil War, Republicans are Hell bent on protecting the people most responsible; and they have good reason to do so.

 House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is as guilty as Trump and his seditious cabal for the attempted coup d’état on January 6. This is true in spite of McCarthy’s frantic phone call begging Trump to call off the Capitol attack.

For one thing, McCarthy could have called out Trump’s lies about the election being stolen from him long before he pleaded with Trump to stop the insurrectionists from assaulting the Capitol – but of course he didn’t.

Now that Republicans, as a unit, have blocked a bipartisan commission to investigate Trump’s insurrection, it fell to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to form a Select Committee to get some answers; even though everyone already has all the answers they need to know who is responsible. So what does Minority Leader McCarthy do? He threatens to punish any Republican who accepts a position on the Select Committee claiming it is purely political and will definitely be a partisan exercise.

Kevin McCarthy isn’t just a tool, he’s a tool who makes no sense; if Republicans participate in the House’s investigation, it couldn’t possibly be labeled “political” or “partisan.” But McCarthy isn’t concerned about partisanship.

Here’s the thing: There was an agreement to establish a “bipartisan” commission that Republicans opposed and shot down in the Senate. In fact, McCarthy tasked the top-ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. John Katko of New York, to broker a deal on the commission with Homeland Security Commission Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS). In fact, part of the deal included several Democratic concessions demanded by McCarthy and acquiesced to without opposition.

So what does McCarthy do after an agreement is reached? He directly undercuts Representative Katko’s agreement; allegedly to give other House Republicans cover to vote against a bipartisan Commission. A commission that was not political or partisan, and one that met every one of McCarthy’s demands.

McCarthy is a real piece of work and his motive for opposing the commission is clear and it was not solely about giving his caucus cover to vote against it.

McCarthy is surely aware of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and if he is not right here is what every Republican who participated in the seditious conspiracy to overthrow the constitutional order of the United States should be terrified of. Section 3 states. 

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

What that means is no small number of Republicans in Congress face the real possibility of being disqualified from serving in office according to the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. That is certainly the case because they all took an oath to support the Constitution and then gave, and continue to give, aid to Trump’s insurrection against the United States Constitution.

Make no mistake, a select committee will identify every last treasonous Republican in Congress and state legislature who helped incite Trump’s acolytes to attack the Capitol with the sole intent of overthrowing the Constitution – and lynching then-Vice President Mike Pence.

As a member of the Select Committee, Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said:

“Our charge is to determine the events of January 6 and the causes of those events. If we are willing to identify the role of the president of the United States in these events, surely we have to be willing to look at the role all the other relevant actors played.  We want nothing but the facts.”

The facts will show that an overwhelming majority of Republicans in Congress did, in fact, participate in the seditious conspiracy by helping organize the “Stop the Steal” rally and spend two months feeding Trump’s devotees a rash of lies meant to incite them to action; action that resulted in a deadly insurrection and attack on the Capitol for the purpose of overthrowing constitutional order. Their actions are a violation of the Constitution that should get every Republican who aided and gave comfort to Trump and his insurrection thrown out of office and charged with seditious conspiracy.