Cuesta house select committee's
investigation into the January 6
resurrection --
it is one of the highest profile
investigations of its kind since
the commission on the 9/11
attack nearly 20 years ago.
That bipartisan group work for
almost two years, building
public hearings and eventually
releasing its findings.
It was chaired by Thomas Cain.
A Republican and he joins me
now.
Thank you so much for being with
us again at the newshour.
Let me first ask you your
reaction to the public hearing
so far that the select committee
has held and how the committee
has gone about its work.
>> We are finding out some
information we need to know and
that is good.
It seems the mandate is not that
much different than ours.
When you tell the American
people the facts to make them
clear, disputable facts.
I would like to know what we do
as a country to make sure this
never happens again.
I think this committee should
have that as one of our mandates
as well.
>> We know that your commission
was bipartisan.
Evenly divided between
Republicans and Democrats.
This committee is seven
Democrats, two Republicans.
We know the history of that.
There just could not be an
agreement reached on the
Republicans on the committee.
How much do you think that
undermines the credibility of
its work or does it?
>> It hurts badly.
That means 40% of the country at
least will have doubts about
what to say.
We worked very hard on the
commission.
The report would be accepted by
the congress on both parties.
It was all based on the
bipartisanship.
If it is not bipartisan that
will be attacked --
what I worry about -- does that
mean that congress is now
incapable of of finding a
bipartisan commission?
>> Two Republicans in Liz Cheney
and Adam Kinzinger but it does
not have the approval of the
house Republican leadership.
Is there anything the committee
can do?
To come across in his work as
fair and producing a work
product the public should be
able to respect?
>> The committee is all we got
right now.
I wish it was bipartisan.
They will tell us the facts and
we have to judge for ourselves.
We did not have any blame
attached to the 9/11 report.
We simply gave all the facts.
We thought the American people
were intelligent enough to come
up with their own conclusions.
This seems to be a bit on the
blame side.
That seems to be a mistake.
What we need are all the facts.
The American people are smart,
they can make their own
conclusions.
>> You think speaker Pelosi was
wrong to deny Kevin Mccarthy's
choices out of the five people
he recommended for the
committee?
Was that a mistake?
>> She made a choice for unity
as opposed to bipartisanship.
I think it was the wrong choice.
I have great respect for the
speaker and I talked to her
about this and I think it is
very important to have a
bipartisan commission.
If it is not bipartisan, I think
we will suffer for it.
We will suffer for it and a
unified the American people.
-- And unify the American
people.
We have to find out exactly what
happened and have confidence in
those facts and hopefully decide
how to make sure it never
happens again.
>> The committee said it is
going about finding the facts.
The witnesses so far have been
mainly Republicans and the
people who served in the trump
white house --
are you saying the committee's
work is fatally flawed?
Is there something they can do
to make their work credible?
>> I think this committee is
very important.
They have to give us the facts.
We have to judge those facts.
I say they are under a great
handicap because the way the
committee is now constituted,
only one party is really in
charge.
It is very hard to get the kind
of credibility for the American
people.
We need unity.
We need to bring people together
.
We need the Republicans and
Democrats talking to each other
about his problems.
I wish the committee was not
flawed in this way.
>> Do you think it is possible
that it could end up with a
result that is credible?
That it could be seen as having
done the job it was supposed to
do?
>> Whatever they do is going to
be positive.
We will find things out.
That will be very important.
Depending on how the report
comes out, they can make a
tremendous contribution.
I am just saying it is much more
difficult now.
>> Final question.
Do you think the justice
department should pursue any
facts that emerge from this
committee's report?
>> Yes.
Absolutely.
The fact that the president was
detached is alarming.
>> Your referencing, --
at one point, he said he thought
the president should be detached
from this.
He was the chair of the 9/11
commission, thank you so much.
We will have live coverage
beginning at 1:00 P.M. Eastern
on pbs.