House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had asked Rep. John Katko (R-NY) to negotiate with Democrats on the rules for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s proposed commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, according to Playbook.
The GOP leader reportedly directed Katko, the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, to keep him in the know about the discussions with committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and other Democrats, which finally led to a deal last Friday.
Additionally, Playbook reports that the New York Republican was able to get almost everything McCarthy had asked for in the negotiations.
The report comes after McCarthy complained on Friday that it was “very concerning to” him that the scope of commission, as agreed to by Katko and Thompson, would focus on the insurrection on January 6 without including the protests against police brutality last summer, as Republicans had demanded.
“You’ve got to look at what the build-up before and what has gone on afterwards, otherwise the commission does not work,” the Republican House leader told reporters, per NBC News.
Prior to last week’s legislative compromise, Republican members of Congress had stymied progress on creating a commission by insisting that any effort to look into the events of January 6 also include a look into supposed left-wing violence, insinuating that it was a problem at anti-racism protests and was fueled by the go-to boogeyman, antifa.
