Why the GOP will 'investigate' the Jan. 6 committee's investigation

In an effort to sound intimidating to Trump supporters, Kevin McCarthy's letter to the committee is chock full of empty threats.

By Hayes Brown, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. has a message for House committees on Jan. 6: Keep doing what you're doing — because we're watching you. McCarthy made that conclusion in a letter to the committee on Thursday, in which the incoming Republican majority vowed to undo all the work the panel had done over the past year and a half.

Like McCarthy's other campaign stunts to win over his far-right members ahead of next month's new Congress, there is absolutely nothing to this warning. All this performance is to show Republican hardliners that they will be tough on Democrats in defense of former President Donald Trump. So, no matter what the committee's final January 6th report says, McCarthy and the GOP will have to stand firm against it.

In his letter, McCarthy reminded committee chair Benny Thompson, D-Miss., to "preserve all records and transcripts of testimony taken during your investigation." He goes on to say that the GOP will hold a hearing on why the Capitol complex was not secured on January 6, 2021. He writes, "Americans owe you all the information you collect — not just the information that fits your political agenda. . . . The American people have a right to know what you've collected." The allegations are supported by the facts and are able to view the transcripts with a view to encouraging enforcement of 18 USC 1001.

Let's break down how meaningless most of these words are. The subtext is that there is a possibility that the committee could hide or destroy some key evidence that shows it was always intended as a political weapon against Trump. But the committee was already preserving all documents to be developed, as required by the resolution creating it. Thompson himself said Tuesday that all transcripts produced would be released after redacting the names of witnesses who agreed to testify anonymously.

As for Capitol security, the House has already held hearings on the matter, and the Senate has already issued a bipartisan report. and "18 USC 1001?" This is a part of the law that states that public officials cannot knowingly lie in the course of their work.

Overall, it shows that McCarthy is willing to adopt the Trump administration's playbook: scuttle the investigation in hopes of preventing any accountability. His letter echoes special counsel John Durham's efforts to uncover the "real" reason the FBI launched a counterintelligence investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign. The effort has been an almost complete failure, but it has given Trump supporters cover to make their conspiracy theories about "spygate" more credible. Even during the GOP's trifecta control of Washington in Trump's early years, though, Congress didn't play Trump to the extent that McCarthy is previewing.

It remains unclear which committee will have jurisdiction over the GOP's counter-investigation. That choice will largely depend on who the next speaker of the House is, whether it's McCarthy or another Republican. But my money is on one of three committees: Oversight and Reform, House Administration or Judiciary, with the latter most likely. First, oversight and reform will be quite busy in their targeted campaigns against the Biden administration. Second, the House administration is not high-profile enough to rein in this political stuff. And a third, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is expected to chair the Judiciary Committee. And if there's anyone the GOP wants to be the point person for this project, it's the man who has turned nonsense into an art form at hearings.