GOP Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana on Tuesday accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her office of scripting the testimonies offered by police officers at Tuesday's hearing about the Capitol riot.
At the hearing, four police officers emotionally recalled defending the Capitol on January 6, describing being beaten, receiving racial abuse, and fearing for their lives.
Banks made the claim of Pelosi's authorship in a Tuesday-night appearance on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle." Pelosi's office denied the claim to Insider, calling it "despicable."
The clip can be seen here:
Pelosi had previously blocked Banks and another GOP congressman, Rep. Jim Jordan, from the House select committee investigating the riot, saying the pair — Trump loyalists who voted against certifying Joe Biden's election win— would "impact the integrity" of the inquiry.
Banks responded last week by accusing Pelosi of constructing a "purely partisan exercise" with the committee.
"Everything that you saw today was carefully scripted by Speaker Pelosi and her staff," he told "The Ingraham Angle" on Tuesday.
"Even the statements that these police officers read, you could tell at times they didn't write the statements, they were merely reading them as they stumbled over some of the words that they weren't familiar with as they were reading."
The host Laura Ingraham did not ask him for evidence of the claim.
Banks went on to say the lawmakers selected to join the commission were picked on the grounds of pro-Democratic partisanship, echoing a sentiment Ingraham had earlier introduced.
A representative for Pelosi told Insider on Wednesday: "The claim is despicable. Neither the speaker nor her staff scripted their testimonies in any way."
Banks' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
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