January 6th Committee’s move against House Republican Scott Perry is already having an impact

When the January 6th Committee decided to start off by going after Steve Bannon, knowing he wouldn’t cooperate due to his ongoing legal troubles, it was a pretty clear strategy to get him arrested for contempt, so as to scare other more skittish witnesses into cooperating. When the committee decided this week to target House Republican Scott Perry, who instantly and loudly voiced his refusal to cooperate, we asked aloud if the committee had chosen Perry because it wanted to make an example out of him as well.

Now we’re getting the first signs that such a strategy may be working. Just 48 hours after the committee targeted Scott Perry, his fellow House Republican Tom Rice is suddenly announcing to Politico that he regrets having voted against certifying the election results. Rice is even going so far as to admit that Donald Trump is “responsible for the attack on the Capitol.”

So why is Tom Rice doing this? The timing seems to be key. Rice has just seen that the January 6th Committee really is intent on taking down the House Republicans who conspired with Trump to try to overthrow the election. And while Rice isn’t accused of having been a part of that criminal conspiracy, he did vote to overthrow the election. It appears Rice has decided that, with the committee moving in on insurrectionist House Republicans, now is the time to try to loudly distance himself from his own vote.

This doesn’t mean Tom Rice deserves any credit whatsoever. It took him nearly a year to finally speak up against Donald Trump, and he only did so after the committee scared him into fearing that he’d face blowback. But all that said, it’s pretty clear that the committee’s move against Scott Perry is already having an impact on other House Republicans. As the committee targets the rest of the House Republican insurrectionists, look for even more distancing and panic moves, which often culminates with someone flipping on the others who were involved.