Gaetz predicts Jan. 6 select committee will try 'disqualifying' Trump from running again

Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz told Just the News that he thinks the House Jan. 6 Select Committee will try "disqualifying" former President Trump from running for president again.

"Disqualifying potential candidates is the newest and most dangerous iteration of cancel culture," Gaetz said on Thursday. "I believe the January 6th committee is going to try to do it regarding Donald Trump. I believe some woke activists in North Carolina are trying to do it right now in a very important test case regarding [first-term North Carolina Republican Rep.] Madison Cawthorn." 

"So far, the well-traveled path of the January 6 committee is to serve up and gaslight opportunity for criminal process to [Attorney General] Merrick Garland," he added.

Gaetz sent a letter Wednesday to the Capitol Police chief with 26 other House Republicans demanding that U.S. Capitol Police preserve all records "regarding investigations or investigative activities the United States Capitol Police have engaged in regarding members of Congress."

The letter was provoked by reports that Capitol Police officers entered Texas Rep. Troy Nehls' office in November 2021. According to Gates' office, the officers "photographed private legislative products" and returned later to "interrogate his staff out-of-uniform."

If the GOP takes back the House majority, Gatez suggested that GOP leaders "convert" the existing Jan. 6 select committee to focus on investigating "federal involvement" and the "full activities of that day."

"We can no longer be called conspiracy theorists for suggesting that because, of course, no less than the New York Times has reported that the federal government had agents and assets on the ground on January 6," Gaetz said. "And when under oath in front of the country, senators asked senior officials with the FBI whether any of their assets or agents had committed crimes on that day, they would not provide an answer."

Some Republicans, such as House Administration Committee Ranking Member Rodney Davis, have asked whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was privy to the security decisions that were made at the Capitol complex in the lead-up to Jan. 6.

Gaetz cautioned GOP lawmakers against making that the focus of a potential Jan. 6 committee under a GOP-led House.

"My perspective is that Republicans should be very cautious about saying the reason Jan. 6th happened was that Democrats weren't cracking down enough on security," he said, "because I believe people are sitting in jail cells right now because they are political pawns to the notion that MAGA is so dangerous that we must use these exquisite counterterrorism tools against a political movement of overwhelmingly peaceful Americans."