This morning, Jonathan Karl interviewed Adam Kinzinger for ABC News. The first question was absolutely explosive, at least for the House Republicans who are trying to get Kinzinger kicked out of the GOP House conference. "Those text messages were really unbelievably damning," noted Karl. "And they were all turned over voluntarily by Mark Meadows before he decided to stop his cooperation with the committee. First of all, why do you think he turned him over? Do you think he had any idea how damaging all that stuff was? Did they-- did he know what he was giving you?"
Kinzinger responded that Meadows had no choice. "He knew he had to... I'm not sure if he knew how damaging they were going to be, but it doesn't matter because he didn't have a choice. We have that legal authority to get that."
Karl then asked the big question: "Do you think that some of your Republican [congressional] colleagues bear direct responsibility for that riot?" And then, "Do you think your colleagues, some of your colleagues should be subpoenaed if they won't do it voluntarily, should be subpoenaed to testify before the committee?" Kinzinger knows they do but played it cool, only saying that he's "not ready to kind of go to that point yet, because I want to let the facts dictate it. But I will tell you, yes, there are more texts out there that we haven't released where it's folks not saying things like, hey, Mark Meadows, why don't you make sure all the votes are counted and then whoever has the most wins? It's going around the nuances of the law, or it's saying, here's how we can use this technicality to win. And I think that's why we have to look at the Electoral Count Act and say, look, if there’s people that know the technicality of this and know how to win against the will of the people, something is wrong that we have to change on that. But we’re going to-- we're going to pursue doggedly everything to the ends of the Earth, and that includes, and we don’t like necessarily to have to go here, but that includes members of Congress that had any involvement."
As far as subpoenaing Members who were part of the coup-- from Gosar, Biggs, Jordan, Brooks, Perry and Gohmert to Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn, Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Traitor Greene-- Kinzinger said they should "absolutely" be subpoenaed. "I think if you had anything to do with what happened on January 6th and I think more importantly, even on January 6th, is that the events and the nuances that led to January 6th. Because January 6th was a really bad day, everything prior to that is the rot in the democracy or the rot in self-governance that we have to correct so we don't get another January 6th. So absolutely anybody-- nobody, member of Congress, former president, nobody in America is above the law."
Yeah, he thinks Trump should be dragged in front of the select committee too. "Nobody should be above the law, but we also recognize we can get the information without him at this point, and, obviously, when you subpoena the former president, that comes with a whole kind of, you know, circus environment. But if we need him, we'll do it."
I'm sure they are all aware that there is a clocking ticking and that the America people are leaning-- heavily-- towards giving the Republicans control of Congress, which would mean the end of that investigation. In fact, Axios reported this morning that McCarthy and his cronies have entirely different plans when they get their hands on the apparatus of government. I hope the voters take it into account when they go to the polls pissed off because the Democrats have been unable (and, at least in some cases, unwilling) to keep any of their campaign promises.
Mike Allen reported that "House Republicans have begun mapping aggressive probes of the Biden administration if they win back the majority-- including inquiries into the origins of COVID, a leak of IRS data about billionaires, and accusations the NSA spied on Tucker Carlson. The plans, obtained exclusively by Axios, show House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy would make muscular use of majority powers for the last two years of President Biden's term if, as expected, the GOP wins the majority in next year's midterms. McCarthy plans to send a spate of 'preservation notices' to departments throughout Biden's Cabinet, ordering them to retain documents that might be needed for future GOP oversight hearings. Republicans want to deflect attention from the 1/6 commission, a real-time probe of real violence, death and looting in the Capitol."
He wrote that McCarthy hopes "to use congressional power to stoke culture wars for 2024 [and] McCarthy plans to beef up staff, counsel and other resources to be ready to extract information beginning Day 1 if the GOP gets the gavel."