The one thing that stands out about the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 incidents at the Capitol is the members' "seething hatred" for former President Donald Trump, Rep. Mike Johnson said on Newsmax on Friday.
"This is nothing but the third impeachment of Donald Trump," the Louisiana Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report," adding that the committee members' rage can be seen in their comments and actions.
"They've invested nearly a year," Johnson said. "They've invested thousands of hours [and] millions upon millions of our taxpayer dollars. They've interviewed hundreds upon hundreds of witnesses, and about 100,000 pages of documents. They hired lawyers and consultants in Hollywood producers, all for what? To rehash what everyone already knows."
The 2021 attack on the Capitol, said Johnson, was a "terrible and tragic event," but at the same time, the United States has "moved on."
Now, inflation is "outrageous" and there is an immigration crisis, said Johnson.
"We have a supply chain crisis," he said. "We have rising crime in our cities. That's what the American people are concerned about."
There will be six more hearings, and Johnson said they will only serve the purpose to "get Donald Trump."
"They were open about that," said Johnson. "They were very clear in the opening statements. This is to punish him for all of the grievances they have against him for all the reasons that they've cited."
Further, the hearings are being held to distract Americans from all the crises that everyone is facing, Johnson said.
"The Democrats have nothing to run on," he said. "We have a fateful election cycle coming up in November, and this is their last-ditch attempt. They're throwing everything out. They've got all the mainstream media on their team. They're playing this like a Hollywood-style production. I don't think it's going to make a bit of difference."
Johnson also discussed GOP legislation, called the Leaker Accountability Act, that if passed would levy a prison sentence for anyone leaking information from the Supreme Court, after the leak of the draft decision on Roe v. Wade that has led to protests outside justices' homes and even an armed man arriving at the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
"We want to make up to five years in prison the penalty for that," Johnson said. "The independence of our judiciary is essential to our system of justice, the rule of law, and the Constitution. We're losing that, and we're losing it at our peril."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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