Former President Donald Trump is making it clear he believes House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made a mistake when he boycotted the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

In an interview with Punchbowl News on Tuesday afternoon, Trump said “in retrospect, I think it would have been very smart to put (Republicans on the committee) and again, I wasn’t involved in it from a standpoint so I never looked at it too closely. But I think it would have been good if we had representation.

“I think in retrospect (McCarthy should’ve put Republicans on) to just have a voice,” the former president continued. “The Republicans don’t have a voice. They don’t even have anything to say.”

After Senate Republicans blocked a bill last year to create a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate Jan. 6 and the events that led up to it, the House voted to form its own investigative committee that was to include eight Democrats and five Republicans. But after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blocked two of McCarthy’s picks — Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana — because they voted against certifying the election, McCarthy pulled all Republican participation in the panel. 

Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois — Republicans who have been critical of Trump and voted to impeach him last year — later accepted Pelosi’s invitation to join the committee.

The result has been a series of public hearings without opposing views or cross-examination, although many of the witnesses have been Republicans. 

Trump reiterated his frustration in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday morning, writing: “You will never get the truth when you have biased and hateful witnesses who are allowed to go on and on without even the slightest cross examination. Republicans should be allowed representation!!!”

He also has repeatedly claimed the committee has avoided delving into his allegations of election fraud, but they have addressed a number of those head-on with officials, including Trump’s former attorney general Bill Barr, saying they investigated the claims but found no evidence to support them. Those debunked claims have included ballot dumps in Atlanta and Detroit.

Trump’s criticism of McCarthy could prove to be significant if Republicans win back the House in this year’s midterms. McCarthy would be in line to become the new House speaker, but that could be in jeopardy if he loses Trump’s support.

Asked by Punchbowl if McCarthy’s decision to pull his picks from the Jan. 6 committee could impact whether he’d endorse McCarthy for speaker, Trump said: “Well, I don’t want to comment on that now. But you and I will talk at some point in the future.”

A McCarthy spokesman did not immediately respond to an email from Spectrum News on Wednesday morning seeking a response to Trump’s comments.