you will talk about white house efforts to develop new covid-19 treatments. watch the center for strategic and international studies event live at 3:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. ahead of the first hearing of the january 6 committee, house minority leader mccarthy held a conference. he told his committee appointees after speaker nancy pelosi bardi two gop lawmakers from serving. >> thank you all for coming.

i first want to start by expressing my condolences to deputy philip campos, an officer who was selflessly serving his community who was killed in the line of duty on sunday. he is a father, a husband, sheriff officer and former marine. three others were shot in the standoff as well. our prayers are with his family and those who were wounded as they continue to break through this. each of us are indebted to our brave capitol police officers who come every day to this house prepared to defend us. on gender six these brave officers were put into a vulnerable, and possible position because of the leadership at the top failed. december 14, the leadership knew there was a problem.

even prior to that inspector general report told us there was failed leadership at the top of the police with the training. rodney davis will speak in a moment of the bill that he had to make sure the structure of the capitol police would change. we had many failures within the leadership. you had a chair of house administration whose responsibilities that come to the capital for more than six months. first time showing back up on january 3 to vote for the speaker. no hearing was about the ig report. no movement of rodney davis is bill. there's questions into the leadership within the structure

of the speaker's office where they denied the ability to bring the national guard here. we now have a committee that all of america wants to know the answers to. why were we prepared for that day attack we make sure that it will never happen again? but, unfortunately, speaker pelosi will only pick on people, onto the committee, that will ask the questions she wants asked here that becomes a failed committee and a failed report, a sham that no onean believe. if you want the true answers do not be afraid of the questions that will get asked. and dry the evidence to wherever it comes forward. we owe it to the officers, we owe it to the nation to have an open and fair debate with all questions being asked. i again, republicans want to participate with the republicans that are able to be on the

committee that have jurisdiction, have knowledge and the ability to ask the tough questions that can get the right answers. it's unfortunate we start with a committee chair who will tell you everything is on the table except the speaker's office. how can you ever get to the bottom of the questions? how can you ever get to the solutions to make sure the capital is never put in this position again? from december 14 they knew. the last time there was a break in the language during the kavanaugh hearing here why were changes made then? why what actions taken after the ig report? a lot of questions that could get asked today to make sure these officers will never be put in this position. january 6th should have never happened. we should have prepared and be prepared for the officers to make sure they had the training and equipment that they needed. with that i i would like to cl up our with steve scalise.

>> thank you kevin, and i share those same sentiments. our prayers go out to so many law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the last year, and every day we thank those capitol police officers who risk their lives to keep us safe and to keep this capital opening, hopefully open again to tourists who can come to the capital to see their government in action. but what we're here to talk about today is speaker pelosi's constant attempt to cover up facts that she doesn't want out there. you know, for weeks now jim jordan and jim banks have been raising some very tough questions, questions that need to be answered about why speaker pelosi didn't make sure that capitol police had all the tools they needed to be prepared for that day. now maybe because they were raising those questions they got

canceled by this new cancel culture that we see moving throughout the country, led by speaker pelosi and a lot her socialist allies in congress where the want to shut out voices that race tough questions that they don't want to be asked or answered. and yet they were starting to raise those questions about why they capitol police didn't have the tools they needed. what kind of intelligence did speaker pelosi get early on, weeks in advance and leader mccarthy talked about, they gave telltale signals that could have prevented what happened on january 6th? speaker pelosi said she doesn't want those questions asked so she kicked them off the committee. she took an unprecedented step of refusing to allow members to be appointed by the minority leader to a select committee, and that never before happen in the history of congress. and so as we see these kind of actions taken by speaker pelosi

to cover up the facts that she doesn't want out there. it is completely debased the legitimacy of this commission because clearly they are not searching for the truth. they are searching to get a narrative out the speaker pelosi has already written. anybody who's been as questions that go against that she just has been removed so that they can't bring those questions up. that's not an investigative panel. people know that. we've seen other bodies, the set has been some investigative work, the department of justice has done some investigative work, and it should be about following the facts, not about trying to cover up facts that tell a story differently than the ones she maybe has already had written and she just wants to now get others to back it up. so it's unfortunate that she's done it. this clearly can't be about people who voted against certifying electors, because she appointed members herself who voted against certifying electors on january 6th

against them on january 6th of 2005. some of her own members who objected on january 6th of 2017. so clearly that's not what it's about. it's probably more about some of the tough questions that were already being raised by jim jordan and jim banks, and that's a shame because those questions need to be asked and answered as well, and now they are not because of the cover-up that speaker pelosi continues to do. we see this with code. she would hold a hearing on the ordinance of covid. too often we seen this pattern by speaker pelosi tried to cover up a a narrative that she doet want out there when we should be trying to get all of the facts. now to come up next is our conference chair elise stefanik. >> there is a reason that nancy pelosi is the most disliked elected official in america and she always puts her own partisan politics over what's best for the american people. she is an authoritarian who has broken the people's house.

she is a lame-duck speaker, and everyone knows it. the reason why nancy pelosi is refusing to see accomplished and well-respected hard-working republicans like jim jordan and jim banks is because she doesn't want the american people to know the truth or learn the facts. she doesn't want a fair or bipartisan investigation. she wants a political one. it is a fact that on that in december of 2020 nancy pelosi was made aware of potential security threats to the capital, and she failed to act. it is a fact that the u.s. capitol police raised concerns and rather than providing them with the support and resources they needed and they deserve, she prioritized her partisan political optics over their safety. the american people deserve to know the truth, that nancy pelosi bears responsibility as speaker of the house for the tragedy that occurred on january 6th. and it was only after

republicans started asking these important questions that she refused to seat them. house republicans will continue to follow the truth and the facts and support our law enforcement officers to make sure this never happens again in the u.s. capitol, the people's house. and i'm proud to turn over to my colleague, very well respected member jim banks. >> today we will hear tragic stories by capitol police officers, tragic events that should of never happened at this capitol building on january 6th. tragic events that happened on speaker nancy pelosi's watch. it's clear at this point nancy pelosi has cherry picked the members to serve on this committee. she has prewritten a narrative only numbers who will stick to her talking points are allowed to serve on this committee. if this is truly a fact-finding mission to make sure january 6th never happens again, this

isn't what that looks like. today i want to repeat a call that i made last week to the chairman of this committee to bring before this committee today on this panel the head of the capitol police union who told many of us last week and has said publicly and privately that on january 6th the rank-and-file members of the capitol police department, the heroes that make up the many women, the heroes that make up the capitol police department, they were not prepared for what happened on january 6th in spite of intelligence reports that date back three weeks before that date, they weren't equipped on january 6th with the proper equipment that they needed to handle what happened that day and they weren't trained for what was going to happen that day. as the senate investigation report, a bipartisan report, already identified there was a systemic breakdown of security, a lack of leadership at the very top of the united states capitol

police, who report a nancy pelosi is ultimately responsible for that lack of leadership, that's where this committee should go if it's serious of making sure something like this never happens again. bring the head of the united states capitol police union to sit on the panel today to provide a different perspective than the cherry picked narrative that nancy pelosi wants the american people to view. i repeat that call and hope the democrats will think better of what they already, they've already rejected ahead of the capitol police union. i hope they think better of it, bring him before the panel today, give them a chance to testify before the american people. thank you. i will defer to representative jordan. >> why don't the democrats want to get to the truth? why don't they want to answer the fundamental question, which is why wasn't there a better security posture on that day? let me read from a news account from february bishopric pelosi's office at previous impressed

upon the sergeant at arms poke think that the national guard was to remain off capitol grounds. he told house administration the discussion centered around the quote optics. why would the democrats are concerned about the optics? why were they so concerned about how it would look? because what happened last summer. it's all driven by what happened last summer where democrats normalized anarchy, , normalized political violence, raised mailed money for the very rioters and looters who destroyed small business, attacked innocent civilians and maybe most overtly attacked police officers. when you spend that you're talking about defining the police and actually defund the police it's kind of hard to up more police here on january 6th like they should have done. that's the fundamental question, that's what this thing is turned into such a political charade. the police officers who will testify today and, frankly, all capitol hill police officers deserve to have more help that day, but the democrats couldn't

do it because of the political decision they had taken all throughout last year. that's the fundamental question that will be answered. that's why republicans are not serving on this committee. now i want to yield to the ranking member of the house administration, mr. davis. >> leader mccarthy spd be raking them on house administration committee in the last congress he told me to fix things around this capital. which is what i, as image and we introduce the capitol police advancement act during the last congress that would've increased transparency and accountability through semi annual reports and addressing many of the issues that have been propped up four years, and ig reports, gao studies, and other different forms of communication with congress. the democrats chose not to advance our legislation to help our officers. it's with great discipline it today that i don't get to question my friend harry dunn

added okay to talk to them about what he and he rose like david bailey and other officers who saved the lives of stephen all of us on a baseball field a few years ago, we don't get to ask the questions that will lead to why there was not a better security posture here on the capitol complex. harry is a friend. harry and i hugged each other when we saw each other in the capital after what happened on january 6th. harry has been to my office to talk about these issues. he knows that all of us here want to address the institutional problems with the structure that is setup to fail, the structure in the united states capital is that the chief of police cannot make a final security decision without going to political appointees that make up the capitol police board, his or her bosses.

they can't get the security posture where they think it is up to par before they have to go to political appointees. we tried to fix this over the last few years, and the democrats have stopped us every single step of the way. now, as speaker pelosi thought that by vetoing ranking member banks and ranking member jordan on this committee that she would avoid the tough questions, well, she doesn't know the rest of us that will. and, frankly, some of the questions that i think need to be asked of the speaker, and hope all of you that in front of us today ask these questions. on january 6th at 1:43 speaker pelosi's was past the note while on a speakers chair on house r requesting permission seek support from the national guard. from then sergeant at on paul irving was appointed by the speaker and conceptually fired that day by the speaker. this is an account that has been confirmed by the speaker's

office. why was the speakers permission even needed? by this time pipe bombs had already been found outside the rnc and the dnc, and writers had reached the steps. sergeant at arms irving felt the need the speakers approval then, what with the instructions and conversations he had with the speaker's office prior to january 6th? former capitol police chief steve stein has testified irving was concerned as many have said about the optics, and we know the speaker's office was calling the shots on all of the actions on january 6th but we don't have the details leading up to those conversations, leading up to the six because under the speakers direction the sergeant at arms has denied our house administration official request to preserve documents and communications. i will tell you the capitol police followed our ask and did provide that information. what are they hiding? what is the speaker hiding?

unfortunately i don't believe those questions are going to be asked by this committee. and the speaker as we've heard about this press conference is tightly controlling every single question that is coming forth. this is a committee that is supposed to get to the bottom of what happened on january 6th. and as has been noted by my colleagues, the chair of this committee had to let all ale questions i just hope you ask the speaker off the table. don't let that happen. i would like to turn this over now to good friend from north dakota. >> i think it's important to recognize what is happening with this can become how we're moving forward and why it's so important. taking jim banks and jim jordan off of this vid isn't just removing to make members of the republican conference. jim banks represents the largest caucus in the republican caucus. jim jordan is ranking member of the judiciary committee. they represent millions of constituents across this country who feel like their voice has

now been silenced and so when we talk about making sure we know what happens and why it will never happen again well such remember for the last six months people have been able to come because of it. for much of that kind with guard soldiers on the ground. these grounds were protected by fencing and razor wire. this is more important than what we're doing here and what we're doing. we have to make sure that never happens again. we have to protect the people who work year. we have to protect the press who covers displaced equipped to protect our law enforcement. we have to protect our staff and we have to do it in a way where the american people still have access to the people's house. you simply cannot do that with a partisan hearing by silencing the voices of millions of american voters and that's exactly what happened and that's why we are so angry, frustrated and upset right now. with that i would like to turn it over to -- >> thank you. i said last week i would put my 30 years of law enforcement

experience including eight years as shift to review the senate report in detail, and i found some things that were alarming. specifically as it relates to the intelligence, the capitol police had in their possession the days and weeks leading up to january 6th. intelligence that said there was a strong likelihood of violence, the violent extremist groups were sharing detailed maps of the capital tunnels and encouraging supporters to bring weapons to the capital. capitol police leadership at this intelligence in their possession, and somehow, somehow were caught completely off guard. the senate report highlights the intelligence failures but doesn't speak specifically to cool in the capitol police knew what and when. and we must answer those questions. in addition to the intelligence failures, the senate report highlights the clear delay of the national guard in assisting

the capitol police. i was alarmed to find the capitol police chief, the chief of police, doesn't have the authority to request national guard support without approval of a capitol police board. and the capitol police board is made up of the house sergeant at arms and senate sergeant at arms. before the national guard could be called they both must agree. the house sergeant at arms answer to nancy pelosi, and it's been suggested the date of january 6th he was waiting for speaker pelosi's approval before calling in the national guard. it's interesting because the sergeant at arms paul irving has been uncooperative with the committee. he won't share phone records. he won't turn over e-mails. what is he hiding? what is speaker pelosi hiding?

speaker pelosi with the x amount to hide the truth i taking the historic steps of rejecting two of the minority leaders select committee pecks, , destroying ay chance of bipartisanship. this committee is completely partisan from top to bottom. every member was chosen by speaker pelosi, and why? because speaker pelosi wants her narrative and her outcome to prevail and not the truth. the only so-called republicans on the committee are on the committee to grandstand and attacked the former president because of their own personal vendettas here those pelosi republicans are not interested in the truth. they are interested in getting even. today, leader mccarthy, whip scully schooley said all this appear, however we're interest in the truth were going to continue seeking it and following the evidence to matter where it leads. because we all went to the american people to ensure this never ever happens again. thank you.

>> thank you, sheriff. as you see on the committee today they don't have any law enforcement. we asked for five members just ask every time and every congress to represent to ask the question. never before in history of congress has a speaker taken the unprecedented move of denying the other party to a committee of who they selected. it raises many questions. the worst part of all of this, we want to make sure this never happens again. january 6th should've never happen. the capitol police should have been put in this position. they should've been able to have the resources, the training, equipment, it should be locked in a bus away. we should not have sergeant at arms that waits to ask a political and when it comes to the need for political reinforcement. especially when you know for weeks in advance. but how do you start a committee when a committee chair says

everything is open, except the speaker's office. and the speaker denies who can be on the committee. they determine report that's probably already written. we want to get to the bottom of this. take all the questions, make sure the questions are answered and get to a solution. with that i will take some questions. yes, ma'am. >> different iterations say the speakers try to cover up what happened on generous six but she didn't say the election was stolen. he didn't call her supporters here to the capital. so what role are you trying to cover up what the former presidents role was on january 6. >> was nothing. we are not predetermined any questions. we would like to be on the committee to ask it. you have got committee chair the question the election of george bush. you got a committee chair this who was suing the president. you have got a committee chair of of the siblings republican senators are equal to terrorist and should be on the terrorist watch list. you've got a member of raskin

before the present was even sweat and the city should be impeached who question the election before objected electors if you got an adam schiff we know is playing nothing but politics comply to the american public that the get proof, took this country through an unbelievable false impeachment to find out that he lied to us. the idea that she thinks these predetermined people will protect her, i think you should start off with everybody should be able to ask the questions. let's get to the bottom of this. shouldn't -- they should never happen again to win the conference took place there was a break in a line in the capitol police. they are the majority party. why didn't they take from that to brew prepared for any of the time come for? you have a house administration that oversees a great deal of this. he had a chairman that have not been to washington since may. you had ig reports that told you you were ill prepared to capitol police. why would you damage the men and

women that we've watched time and again put their life on the line? to go into the light a fire your steve scalise come rodney davis here who went on that baseball field. why wouldn't we make that commitment to them? you have rodney davis who offered legislation as the ranking member in the minority that the majority would never bring up even though the ig report and others said they needed. are those questions going to be asked? of a going to be back at the situation again in the future? two two question for this ente committee should be, why were we so ill prepared for that day? and we make sure this never happens again? and that's what should drive the committee. there may be built up before that day that you were going up to investigate. speaker pelosi work six months trying to make sure that would never happen. we had an officer killed on good friday, just across here, based

upon if you listen to who made the killing of buying the knife, it was politically motivated but we're not going to investigate that. you have the fbi doing investigations, want to make sure nothing in this committee gets in the way of that. you have an architect of the capitol that has been appropriated $10 million to make sure this is better prepared. why wouldn't we then ask the tough questions to make sure the capitol police have the resources, the training and equipment? that is what is what is being withheld and that is one complaining about. [inaudible] >> do you still stand by that? >> i think from the standpoint of looking at all the investigation as a go forward. i would have liked a response faster. having known what i know today, just listen to rodney davis, why would a sergeant at arms when you have an insurrection going on, a protest out here, you have a line being broken and you are

the sergeant at arms, why would your first response be i got to pen and noted speaker to see if it's okay if i can do my job to protect the many women on the line? why would that be your first reaction? why? i don't think any of us knew that. do you realize the sergeant at arms is being, being the leader of the republicans come never talking to me prior to the 16th even the venue on december 14. how many meetings have had with the speaker's office for the preparation? he never passed me a note that day. i would tell you bring the national guard. there are people out there who say there were phone calls to the speaker that offer the national guard prior to that day and was turned down. turned down and jeff to ask the speaker on the day of what was going on? why wouldn't you do your job next why would you feel that in your job you could make the decision what you were the officer. we have a sheriff for more than 30 years that i promise you

this. in his capacity when he was sheriff he did not think yet to call elected official for anything for law enforcement that is going on. he knew his men and women were out there and he needed to defendant and he wants to make sure there were prepared. that's why i want what peog questions like that. yes. >> representative armstrong said by not allowing jim banks are jim jordan on the committee, their silence -- but are you not silencing from those legitimate questions being asked? [inaudible] >> what you want is, one thing we have in our government, you don't get 100% of what you want your you have to find compromise. this is the only situation in the history of a select committee by a speaker to try to

predetermine what could be asked and what the results could take place. she has bought this for six months. the same time of those six months to make committees in the senate bipartisan have done an investigation. and then when we came to this solution, partisan-based, and we offered, no subpoena power, five members, never in the history of congress has this taken place. why? why would that take place? and i think from the perspective you have a ranking member of the judiciary committee, decorative oversight a part of this. you've got jim banks running the largest conference, caucus inside the conference, served our nation in afghanistan in the navy, and she questions the outcome of that? when you've got a committee chaired that objected to the election of george bush and delete senate republican senators should be on terrorist watch list, with suing president trump at the time, what we are objecting to is that we're not

going to find the solutions. we want to find the solutions so that this would never happen again. that's always asked. thank you very much. have a good day. >> what about mcconnell's role? he appointed singer to the capitol police board. announcer: c-span is your unfiltered view of government. >> the world has changed. faster, reliable internet is something no one can live without. we are there for customers with speed, reliability, value and choice. it all starts with great internet. wow! announcer:wow supports c-span along with these other providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. ♪