...unlike in previous congressional inquiries into Mr Trump’s conduct, committee members will not have to contend with grandstanding, filibustering, showboating, or interruptions from Mr Trump’s allies in Congress. That’s because House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has refused to allow the members he put forth to participate after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two of his picks — Representatives Jim Jordan and Jim Banks — on grounds that they might end up being called as witnesses.
...
Kurt Bardella, a former adviser to ex-GOP House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa who now advises the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told The Independent that Mr McCarthy’s decision to withdraw all his picks in a fit of pique was a “massive strategic error” that has left the former president without anyone to defend or run interference for him.
It does sound like a first order blunder.
He also predicted the former president would “lose his mind” when he watches the select committee’s hearings and realises no one is there to interject with talking points representing his side of the argument.
Another prominent Republican turned critic of the GOP, ex-Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele, told The Independent the panel needs to captivate their audience on Thursday for the good of the country.
“This is one of those moments in our history, where everything needs to stop. Everything needs to take a pause. And people need to just sit down where they are. Turn on the television. And listen, because this is not partisan. The members of the committee are going to have to carve out this moment for the American people in a way that grabs their attention and walks them through everything that that led up to occurred on January 6 and what came after that.”
