Kevin McCarthy fumbling away chance to conduct GOP probe of Jan. 6: 'This is going pretty poorly for him'

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) so far has not show any sign that he'll carry through on his pledge to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection, and there's no indication that any Republicans want to look into it.

The California Republican pledged to conduct a parallel probe after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) kicked two Republicans off the Democratic-led select committee, but six weeks later there's no indication that GOP lawmakers have any interest in conducting their own investigation, reported The Daily Beast.

"None of us want this to be a priority," said one House Republican aide. "I don't think there's any member that wants to serve on this committee."

McCarthy conceded shortly after the riot that Trump was to blame, and so did many other House Republicans, but now he doesn't even seem interested in reprimanding Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) for apparently voicing support for another insurrection.

"That elements of the Republican Party are comfortable defending insurrectionists as political prisoners is a new low in the post-Trump era, and proof that post-Trump isn't really post-Trump, people are still clearly playing to him," said the GOP aide.

A senior House GOP aide told The Daily Beast that Republicans would likely keep referring to the insurrectionists as "political prisoners" to stave off political pressure for not challenging the 2020 election results.

"You don't have to sanction specific behaviors or support specific people — you're just supporting equal justice," that aide said.

Trump himself has little interest in a counter-investigation, and two sources say he's more focused trying to prevent the House select committee from obtaining records from him and his staffers, and some Republicans don't see how McCarthy could manage a separate investigation.

"I think this is going pretty poorly for him," said a House GOP aide.