Just days after House Democrats announced impeachment proceedings
against Donald Trump in 2019, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faced an
unwanted pressure campaign from the president’s closest allies.

McCarthy refused — centrists, he believed, would have more credibility
when they called foul on the Democrats’ impeachment process. Trump
allies, meanwhile, would be dismissed by persuadable voters as knee-jerk
partisans playing to an audience of one.

That strategy has now flown the coop. McCarthy this week rewarded
Trump’s most bombastic allies — including some of the members who
initially opposed him as speaker — with seats on the high-profile House
Oversight Committee, ground zero for the GOP’s investigations of
President Joe Biden. 

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