众议院少数党领袖凯文·麦卡锡显然是第一次表示，他愿意就他与时任总统的谈话作证唐纳德·特朗普在1月6日国会大厦袭击事件中，外部佣金叫他这么做。
“当然可以。下一个问题?”他回答记者的问题时说。
但在众议院通过一项他反对的措施后的第二天，他也抨击了他所说的“佩洛西委员会”，该措施将建立一个调查国会大厦袭击的委员会，声称国会大厦受到政治的困扰。
麦卡锡在国会大厦外纪念古巴独立日的新闻发布会上说:“这个佩洛西委员会，我们已经努力了很长时间。”。“1月13日，我向佩洛西要了一个。她用了四个月的时间来玩弄政治。”
肯·切德诺/路透社
众议院共和党领袖凯文·麦卡锡和几位众议院共和党同僚(未图示)何
麦卡锡指责佩洛西“浪费时间”，尽管该委员会是两党共同努力的结果，由纽约共和党众议员约翰·卡特科(John Katko)共同发起，麦卡锡曾委托他制定一项协议。这位少数党领袖强调了另一名国会警察是如何在4月份死亡的，当时一个人把他们的车撞进了国会街垒，作为一个借口，没有一个专门针对1月6日的委员会。
“她不想也有这样做的余地，”麦卡锡说，试图解释为什么他在表示支持这项努力后改变了立场。“尽管佩洛西浪费了这么多时间，你还是让国会大厦的建筑师拿出1000万美元来研究我们需要做些什么来保护它。然后，司法部理所当然地比我们做得好得多，已经逮捕了445人，可能还会有100多人。”
“我只是认为佩洛西委员会是一个很大的政治，”他补充说。
肯·切德诺/路透社
众议院共和党领袖凯文·麦卡锡和几位众议院共和党议员举行新闻发布会
当被问及他是否担心35名共和党人加入民主党时，麦卡锡出于信任，不屑地回答说，“一点也不”，声称他预计这个数字会更高。
周四，当被问及民主党将如何推进调查时，加州众议院议长南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)保持了温和的语气，因为众议院周三通过的法案如果没有10票共和党人的支持，很可能会在参议院搁置。
她此前曾提出众议院通过委员会进行调查的可能性，或者可能成立一个新的专门针对此次袭击的特别委员会，但周四受到美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)国会记者雷切尔·斯科特(Rachel Scott)的质疑，佩洛西推迟了参议院民主党人及其谈判。
何塞·路易斯·马加纳/美联社
众议院议长南希·佩洛西在华盛顿国会山的新闻发布会上发言
“我们希望他们在它准备好的时候把它拿到地板上。他们可能有一些修改，这，我们会看到他们是什么，”她说。
“我希望得到参议院的信任，也希望找到真相。佩洛西补充说:“让我们给他们一个这样做的机会，而不要让他们对时间表或其他现有的选择犹豫不决。”他指出，由于国会的一些不情愿，在2001年恐怖袭击后，成立9/11委员会进行了几次尝试。“谈判需要时间。”
没有独立的委员会可能意味着一个由民主党众议员组成的特别委员会，正如佩洛西周三提醒她的同事们的那样，民主党众议员的比例过高。当被问及特别委员会时，佩洛西说她“压倒性的倾向”是通过两党投票成立该委员会。
何塞·路易斯·马加纳/美联社
众议院议长南希·佩洛西在华盛顿国会山的新闻发布会上发言
“我们一步一步来，但我们说过我们想要的是一个两党委员会。我不想削弱这一地位，”她说。"偏好，不仅仅是偏好，压倒性的偏好是两党合作."
预计参议院要到阵亡将士纪念日休会后才会讨论此事。参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)此前一直对一个委员会持开放态度，他称两党提案“倾斜和不平衡”——为参议院共和党人投票反对立法提供了掩护。
即使是北卡罗来纳州参议员理查德·伯尔(Richard Burr)也表示，他不会支持拟议的委员会。他没有寻求连任，也是七名参议院共和党人之一，他们投票将特朗普定为“煽动叛乱”。
McCarthy says he would testify about conversation with Trump during Jan. 6 Capitol assault
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, apparently for the first time, said Thursday he would be willing to testify about his conversation with then-PresidentDonald Trumpduring the Jan. 6 Capitol assault if an independent,outside commissioncalled him to do so.
"Sure. Next question?" he said in response to a reporter's question.
But he also took a swipe at what he called the "Pelosi commission" the day after the House passed a measure he opposed that would establish one to investigate the Capitol attack, claiming it is plagued by politics.
"This Pelosi commission that we tried to work on for quite some time," McCarthy said at a news conference outside the Capitol to mark Cuban Independence Day. "I asked Pelosi for one on Jan. 13. And she spent four months just playing politics with it."
McCarthy blamed Pelosi for "wasted time" -- despite the commission being a bipartisan effort and co-sponsored by Republican Rep. John Katko of New York, whom McCarthy had tasked with working out a deal. The minority leader emphasized how another Capitol Police officer died in April when a person rammed their car into the Capitol barricade as an excuse to not have a commission solely focused on Jan. 6.
"She didn't want to have the scope to do that as well," McCarthy said, trying to explain why he reversed positions after saying he would support the effort. "Even though Pelosi wasted all this time, you got the Architect of the Capitol given $10 million to study what we need done here to protect it. And then you've got the Justice Department, rightfully, does a much better job than we could ever do, arrested already 445 people probably more another 100 coming."
"I just think a Pelosi commission is a lot of politics," he added.
Asked if he were concerned that 35 Republicans broke ranks to join Democrats, McCarthy, in a show of confidence, dismissively replied, "not at all," claiming he expected the number to be higher.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Thursday kept a moderate tone when asked how Democrats would move forward with an investigation, given the odds that the bill passed by the House Wednesday will languish in the Senate without 10 Republican votes.
She had previously floated the possibility of the House investigating through committees, or potentially standing up a new select committee focused on the attack, but questioned by ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott on Thursday, Pelosi deferred to Senate Democrats and their negotiations.
"We want them to bring it to the floor when it's ready. They may have some modifications in it, which, we'll see what they are," she said.
"I would like to have the trust that the Senate wants to find the truth as well. And let's just give them the chance to do that without hanging something over them about a timetable or other options that exist," Pelosi added, pointing out that it took several attempts to form the 9/11 Commission after the 2001 terror attacks because of some reluctance in Congress. "It takes time to negotiate."
Not having an independent commission would likely mean a select committee formed by -- and, as Pelosi reminded her colleagues Wednesday, disproportionately comprised of -- Democratic House members. Asked specifically about a select committee, Pelosi said it's her "overwhelming preference" to form the commission through a bipartisan vote.
"We're taking this one step at a time, but we've said what we want is a bipartisan commission. I don't want to weaken that position," she said. "The preference, not only preference, overwhelming preference is for bipartisanship."
The Senate is not expected to take it up until after its Memorial Day recess. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had previously been open to a commission, called the bipartisan proposal "slanted and unbalanced" -- giving Senate Republicans cover to vote against the legislation.
Even North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, who is not seeking reelection and was one of seven Senate Republicans to vote to convict Trump for "incitement of insurrection," said he wouldn't support the proposed commission.
