The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 unrest at the Capitol has produced the modern-day equivalent of a "Soviet-style" show trial, where the outcome has been manufactured and predetermined, New York GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney told Newsmax.
Earlier in the congresswoman's Monday interview on "The Chris Salcedo Show," Tenney likened the Jan. 6 panel's actions to when she was living in "former Yugoslavia" — which she describes as "communism-light" — when one "disagreed with the government, they put on a show trial. And they sent you to a barren island where you spent your time in prison because of your protest against the government."
Regarding the Jan. 6 trial, tangibly involving former President Donald Trump, Tenney said, "I think it is very Soviet-style. It had a predetermined outcome. They knew what they were doing. They cherrypicked the evidence, and the people they wanted to talk to."
According to an Associated Press report from July 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rejected two Republicans picked by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to sit on the Jan. 6 panel — Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Jim Banks, R-Ind. — while citing "integrity" as a reason for rejecting the submissions.
Pelosi cited that, in the wake of the Capitol's storming, both Banks and Jordan voted to overturn President Joe Biden's election victory.
"With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these members, I must reject the recommendations of Reps. Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee," the House Speaker stated at the time.
After Republican infighting for an all-or-nothing request of five GOP House members to sit on the panel, along with Pelosi's personnel rejections, the Jan. 6 panel eventually comprised of Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Elaine Luria, D-Va., and Republicans Liz Cheney, Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, Ill. — both outspoken critics of Trump.
"They didn't want President Trump or anyone to speak freely in a live format because they wanted to make sure they could censor everything that was coming out so that they could prove their narrative and a false narrative," said Tenney. "That's the opposite of what our criminal justice system is about: this is guilty until proven innocent."
Regarding the statements from the panel on July 2021, The Washington Post wrote that the proposal to have Cheney deliver opening remarks came from Schiff, who thought it would create a "strong visual" as the committee began its work.
On Monday, the committee sent its criminal referral of Trump to the Department of Justice.
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