In a letter, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California warns the committee probing the Capitol intrusion that all of its work must be saved so that the future Republican majority may examine what transpired.

“I remind you and your staff on the Committee to preserve all records collected and transcripts of testimony taken during your investigation,” McCarthy said in a Wednesday letter to the committee’s chairman, Mississippi Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson.

McCarthy stated that the panel must be subjected to the strictest scrutiny.

“You have spent a year and a half and millions of taxpayers’ dollars conducting this investigation. It is imperative that all information collected be preserved not just for institutional prerogatives but for transparency to the American people,” he wrote.

“The official Congressional Records do not belong to you or any member, but to the American people, and they are owed all the information you gathered — not merely the information that comports with your political agenda.”

McCarthy added, in reference to a federal statute that makes it illegal to make false statements to the government, “The American people have a right to know that the allegations you have made are supported by the facts and to be able to view the transcripts with an eye toward encouraged enforcement of 18 USC 1001.”

McCarthy, who seeks to become speaker when the next Congress convenes with a Republican majority, stated that the future House will not continue the committee’s work but rather examine “why the Capitol complex was not secure on January 6, 2021.”

According to The Hill, Thompson stated that he was already guaranteeing that all of the panel’s data will be freely accessible.

McCarthy was among those who declined to testify, the Democrat added. Thompson stated, “The subpoena I signed for him to come and testify before the committee will be part of the record.”

“He had a chance to come and testify before the committee. So I think the horse has left the barn. And we will do our work. We will end Dec. 31. If he wants to conduct whatever he wants as speaker, it’s his choice. But we sunset Dec. 31. He can read the report. We won’t have anything in our possession after Dec. 31.”

McCarthy’s letter references a Washington Post article stating that Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming wants the committee’s findings to focus largely on former President Donald Trump, which has angered others.

According to the report, 15 current and former staffers of the committee are “angered and disillusioned by Cheney’s push to focus the report primarily on former president Donald Trump, and have bristled at the committee morphing into what they have come to view as the vehicle for the outgoing Wyoming lawmaker’s political future.”

More on this story via The Western Journal:

The Post also reported that the final report on Jan. 6 would limit references to the shortcomings of law enforcement and the intelligence community that contributed to the chaotic events of that day.

“We all came from prestigious jobs, dropping what we were doing because we were told this would be an important fact-finding investigation that would inform the public,” one former committee staffer said. “But when [the committee] became a Cheney 2024 campaign, many of us became discouraged.” CONTINUE READING…