McCarthy warns Jan. 6 panel to preserve records, vows GOP probe

​Republican House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy is vowing to investigate the special committee probing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — warning the committee’s head to preserve all records and transcripts.

“You’ve spent a year and a half and millions of taxpayers’ dollars conducting this investigation. It is imperative that all information collected be preserved not just for institutional prerogatives but for transparency to the American people,” McCarthy demanded in a letter Wednesday to Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson.

“The American people have a right to know that the allegations you have made are supported by the facts.”​

McCarthy also told Thompson that the committee’s work will end when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3 and that as the panel’s chair he is responsible for its work.

The California Republican — who is vying to become the next House speaker — also said the Republican majority will delve into why the “Capitol complex was not secure” on Jan. 6 when a mob of pro-Donald Trump supporters stormed the building. 

McCarthy warned the Mississippi Democrat about political bias in the investigation.

“The official Congressional Records do not belong to you or any member, but to the American people, and they are owed all of the information you gathered — not merely the information that comports with your political agenda,” he wrote.

He added that “some reports suggest that entire swaths of findings will be left out of the Committee’s final report.”

Thompson told reporters on Wednesday that he hadn’t yet seen McCarthy’s missive but said the panel intends to preserve its records. 

The committee is continuing to conduct interviews of witnesses and is expected to release a final report this month.

Thompson also said that McCarthy “had a chance to have members on the committee, he had a chance to come and testify before the committee, so, I think the horse has left the barn.”

Meanwhile, some ​current and former staffers on the committee have accused Rep. Liz Cheney, its vice chair and one of only two Republicans on the panel, of using her influence to ensure that the final report focuses on former President Trump’s role in the attack on the Capitol. 

They told the Washington Post that other findings about failures by law enforcement and the intelligence community to stop the riot will be left out of the report or relegated to the appendix.