The latest obsession of the liberal media is the January 6th Select Committee created by Democrats. Reporters are constantly smearing Republican leaders as “anti-democratic” for opposing the incredibly partisan effort. On Thursday evening’s episode of Erin Burnett OutFront, guest host Poppy Harlow brought on Mike Shields, a paid strategist for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who immediately shut down all of the Democratic talking points and exposed the January 6th Committee for what it is, political theater.
Harlow began the segment by asking Shields why McCarthy is so “dead set against getting answers” regarding January 6th. Shields quickly exposed the partisan nature of the committee in his response:
From a political perspective, this is a partisan committee. And Kevin did propose to do a bipartisan committee that would look at political violence. For instance, his colleague Steve Scalise was shot on a baseball field through political violence. Why would we only focus on January 6th? And the reason is pretty simple, Democrats know they're in a terrible position in 2022 to keep the House. They want to drum this up for political purposes and they just keep talking about it over and over again.
Harlow continued to whine about McCarthy’s leadership and claimed he was just upset he’s in the minority and didn’t get everything he wanted. She wrongly assumed that McCarthy is against finding out the truth and punishing those who committed crimes on January 6th. Thankfully, Shields dismantled her argument by hitting her with facts about the widely supported FBI investigations and by revealing the reason Democrats want this committee, to win elections:
The first proposal that Nancy Pelosi made was that it wouldn't be equal, that they would be in charge of the process. Here we are now. She's basically gotten what she originally proposed, which is they're in charge of the process. It's political theater...The Washington Post said that 12 more people in one day were arrested for this. The FBI is investigating this. There's actually juries and indictments happening, which by the way is great. I'm for that. I support the Capitol Police. I believe anyone who did anything on January 6th that's illegal should go to jail. That's exactly what should happen.
Harlow next made the mistake of comparing the January 6th Committee to the Benghazi Committee, mentioning McCarthy’s overwhelming support for investigating the 2012 attack in Libya that killed a U.S. ambassador and three others. However, the circumstances surrounding these two events are completely different, and Shields laid out the differences:
And you know what, in that commission, Republicans didn't have sign-off on Democrats getting on the commission. That's a great example. Republicans did not have sign-off on who they put on their committee. Democrats have created a partisan process where they have sign-off on it.
Throughout the segment, Shields did an excellent job of revealing the true colors of the left. All they want is more power and total control over democratic processes, and the only way for them to do that is by continuing to lie about Republican leaders.
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Below is a transcript of the segment, click expand to read:
CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront
07/01/2021
7:21 p.m. ESTPOPPY HARLOW: Out front now Mike Shields. He is currently a paid strategist for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, also former RNC Chief of Staff. Mike, good evening
MIKE SHIELDS: Good evening.
HARLOW: Thanks for taking the time. Look, Kevin McCarthy could have supported a bipartisan committee like 35 Republicans in the House voted to do, he didn't, even after Speaker Pelosi literally gave in on nearly all his demands outlined in that February 22nd letter, like equal representation by Democrats and Republicans, co-equal subpoena power, but he didn't. Why is he dead set against getting answers here in investigating the insurrection?
SHIELDS: Well, this is a partisan committee and I disagree with you, Kevin McCarthy, yes, I am a paid advisor to Kevin. I don't talk to him about this stuff, because it's official business. But from a political perspective, this is a partisan committee. And Kevin did propose to do a bipartisan committee that would look at political violence. For instance, his colleague Steve Scalise was shot on a baseball field through political violence. Why would we only focus on January 6th? And the reason is pretty simple, Democrats know they're in a terrible position in 2022 to keep the House. They want to drum this up for political purposes and they just keep talking about it over and over again.
HARLOW: So Mike
SHIELDS: And so now they've created a committee where Pelosi gets signed off even on any of the appointments that are Republican
HARLOW: So if you're in the minority and you don't get every single thing you want, that last thing that he wanted wasn't even in this February 22nd letter. He added it later after Pelosi gave him literally everything he outlined in this letter. If you're in the minority, you don't get everything you want. Then you don't look at an attack on the Capitol even when you were inside of it. Is that right?
SHIELDS: Look, this was a partisan process from the very beginning. The first proposal that Nancy Pelosi made was that it wouldn't be equal, that they would be in charge of the process. Here we are now. She's basically gotten what she originally proposed, which is they're in charge of the process. It's political theater. There are currently - - yesterday -- yesterday. The Washington Post said that 12 more people in one day were arrested for this. The FBI is investigating this. There's actually juries and indictments happening, which by the way is great. I'm for that. I support the Capitol Police. I believe anyone who did anything on January 6th that's illegal should go to jail. That's exactly what should happen.
HARLOW: Fine but Kevin McCarthy has made. Thank you for stating that you want answers here, Kevin McCarthy clearly doesn't from any sort of committee.
SHIELDS: That's just not true. It's not true.
HARLOW: Does he have a personal
SHIELDS: Because they're not looking for answers. They're looking for politics.
HARLOW: let me just finish my
SHIELDS: They're looking to win elections and make it political.
HARLOW: Let me ask the questions. Just let me get a question out, you’ll answer it. We'll go back and forth on that. Does he have a personal conflict of interest here? Because remember, he was talking to President Trump and the weeks leading up to January 6th. He supported and carried on the big lie and he maybe could be as Manu just reported, again, called as a witness because of his phone call with President Trump. Is he personally afraid that he may be vulnerable in this investigation.
SHIELDS: No. I'm just repeating. He's spoken on the record about that and so he's made that clear and he's clarified that. But here's the thing, what you have to remember is this is all about politics. This is political theater, nothing is going to be accomplished here.
HARLOW: But he wanted the Benghazi investigation to get to the truth.
SHIELDS: Hang on, you said I could answer - Poppy, you said you're going to ask questions and that I can answer. I'm going to answer the question.
HARLOW: But answer the question I'm asking.
SHIELDS: I am. This is about politics. That is the answer to the question. Bennie Thompson just came out and said, actually, we may not just stick to our old deadline of the end of the year. We may just keep doing this forever. And that tells you everything you need to know about this. This is a political issue. And by the way, as a campaign operative, as a Republican, I'm kind of glad. If the Democrats want to run on 22 about January 6th, which affects no one's lives in this country every day
HARLOW: What?
SHIELDS: Republicans are going to run on securing the border.
HARLOW: Wait, wait, wait, hold on. January 6th affects no one's lives in this country?
SHIELDS: This commission is not going to affect people's lives.
HARLOW: Is that what you but
SHIELDS: No, of course not.
HARLOW: How could it not having answers to an ongoing threat
SHIELDS: It's not going to put people to work. It's going to help them with their taxes
HARLOW: an ongoing threat, an ongoing threat. Mike, an ongoing threat, a life or death threat according to DHS and the FBI.
SHIELDS: Sure. And that's why the FBI is investigating it.
HARLOW: It continues.
SHIELDS: And political theater has no bearing on that. All that is about politics.
HARLOW: Do I need to remind you what Kevin McCarthy said about Benghazi and that commission? Let's find the truth wherever the truth takes us. Why is it different this time?
SHIELDS: And you know what, in that commission, Republicans didn't have sign off on Democrats getting on the commission. That's a great example. Republicans did not have sign-off on who they put on their committee. Democrats have created a partisan process where they have sign off on it and so what's the point. That is not going to solve any problems in this country, it's actually going to make them worse. We should either investigate all of the political violence that happened in this country last year, going all the way back to when members of Congress were actually shot or we should say for what this is. The FBI is investigating it, that should happen, that should carry on. There are bipartisan committees in Congress that are actually looking at this. This is a sham political process that Nancy Pelosi has created. And Republicans are absolutely right to focus on the real issues American people care about.
HARLOW: One more question for you, Mike, help me understand this. Liz Cheney is as conservative Republican as you get. I don't need to tell you her voting record, you know at 96 percent conservative rating. Why is Kevin McCarthy so worried about Liz Cheney accepting this position from Speaker Pelosi?
SHIELDS: He's not worried about it.
HARLOW: He made it very clear today.
SHIELDS: No. What he made clear today and he clarified it in the clip you showed is that when you get your committee assignments in the House, they are granted to you by the conference together. They vote on your committee assignments. And it's just telling the reality of the situation. If you're a Republican and you go work on a partisan sham committee with this Democratic speaker, your colleagues are going to be upset with you and they're going to hold you accountable for that. And all Kevin is doing is telling the truth that that's the reality of what happens when you do that.
HARLOW: It could have been bipartisan. Mike.
SHIELDS: It could have been. It could have been a long time ago if they'd agreed to have the things that Kevin had proposed. They chose not to do that. We're in a partisan world. That's Washington, D.C. Everyone knows this is a political game and I think Republicans are going to move on to the issues that actually matter in the election.
HARLOW: I think the answers here matter a lot. Mike Shields, we'll have you back. Thank you for the time.
SHIELDS: Thanks.
