Chip Roy: “I thank the gentleman from Indiana for yielding. A year ago in January I spoke on this floor in defense of the rule of…”

“I thank the gentleman from Indiana for yielding. A year ago in January I spoke on this floor in defense of the rule of law and my view that it was incumbent upon Congress to count the electors sent to us from their respective States. In doing so, I reminded the Chamber that we are deeply divided. Now we are a Nation perilously divided further. And a divided Nation must return to first principles. Those first principles include separation of powers; and in so doing, the judicious use of the congressional subpoena power as requiring, per the United States Supreme Court, ``a valid legislative purpose.'' That power is not, per the court, limitless, it is not, per the court, a power to expose for the sake of exposure, it is not, per the court, a power to punish, as such would be ``indefensible.'' The January 6th Committee was born in politics. After all, we have standing committees like Judiciary, which have had precisely zero hearings about the 500 Americans who have been charged, arrested, and are jailed regarding January 6. And then the natural pursuit of any conspiracy associated with such crimes--no, the select committee continually moves the goalpost far from a core legislative purpose. Indeed, one target seeking to claim privilege was told to take specific tests to claim that privilege, then did so, and then was told, sorry, this was not sufficient en route to contempt. Now we have the targeting of our friend, Mark Meadows.…”