House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Friday that he would not ''rule out'' removing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., from the influential Armed Services Committee in the latest backlash over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., vetoing two GOP members from the Select Committee on the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.
''I think it’s a conference decision,'' McCarthy said during his Friday press conference. ''The conference will look at it.''
Cheney is the only Republican Pelosi named to her select committee to investigate the riot at the federal building that killed five people including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and civilian Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by a different, unidentified Capitol Police officer.
She was one of a handful from her party to vote to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting the violence.
McCarthy named five Republicans to the panel including Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., but Pelosi rejected both as being a ''ridiculous'' choice given their support for the former president.
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was removed from the third highest leadership position in the conference earlier this year for her outspoken criticism of Trump and what she saw as his role in the riot.
This comes as the most recent dust-up between Pelosi and McCarthy over the makeup of the panel.
Pelosi said that having Banks and Jordan on the committee would be nothing more than GOP ''antics'' to take away from the serious work of getting to the truth of what happened that day.
McCarthy, on the other hand, said that Pelosi’s committee is a partisan group bent on its continued mission of the last five years, attacking Trump.
The former president is already supporting a GOP candidate to primary Cheney in her reelection bid in Wyoming where Trump won the state by around 70%.
When Pelosi vetoed Banks and Jordan, McCarthy pulled the other three Republicans from serving on the panel.
Testimony for the committee is scheduled to begin next week.
While Democrats will likely focus on Trump and his role, Jordan and the other Republicans said they wanted to learn why the Capitol Police and others were not more prepared for the riot, despite having a warning ahead of time that something violent could happen on that day.
Several hundred supporters of President Trump forced their way into the building while a joint session of Congress was counting the final Electoral College vote tally for the 2020 election.
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