Trump supporters surround a beaten Capitol Police officer inside the US Capitol, January 6, 2021


UPDATE, FEB 9:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has criticized his Republican Party for censuring GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and pushed backed against its framing of the Capitol Attack as “legitimate political discourse”.

The Kentucky senator said of the Trumpist assault, seeking to block the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden:

We saw it happen. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.

McConnell spoke to reporters outside the Senate Republicans’ closed-door weekly lunch. He said of the censure of Cheney and Kinzinger, both of whom voted to impeach Trump and are on the House select committee investigating the attack:

Traditionally, the view of the national party committees is that we support all members of our party, regardless of their positions on some issues. The issue is whether or not the R.N.C. should be sort of singling out members of our party who may have different views of the majority. That’s not the job of the RNC [Republican National Committee].

In contrast, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy continued to support the censure on Tuesday. He claimed that it had nothing to do with the attack and that it was meant to condemn the select committee’s targeting of conservatives, rather than being aimed at Cheney and Kinzinger.

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who has built her political profile by defending Trump, asserted, “Republicans have been very clear, we condemn the violence on January 6.”

However, she declared, “We believe the January 6 commission is political theater about punishing partisan opponents,” and tried to change the issue with a swipe at Black Lives Matters demonstrations after the police killing of George Floyd: “We also condemn the violence in 2020 as violent criminals attacked federal buildings including parts of Washington, D.C.”

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who supported Trumpists on the day of the attack, insisted, “Whatever you think about the RNC vote, it reflects the view of most Republican voters,”


ORIGINAL ENTRY, FEB 5: Censuring GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the Republican Party officially declares the Capitol Attack of January 6, 2021 “legitimate political discourse”.

The Republican National Committee passed the censure by voice vote in its winter meeting.

The political offense of Reps. Cheney and Kinzinger, both of whom voted to impeach Donald Trump over his incitement of the attack, has been to serve on the House select committee investigating the assault.

Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, said in a statement after the vote:

Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed a line. They chose to join [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.

The RNC resolution did not even make a distinction by mentioning participants who “had nothing to do with violence”.

Kinzinger responded to the censure:

I have no regrets about my decision to uphold my oath of office and defend the Constitution. I will continue to focus my efforts on standing for truth and working to fight the political matrix that’s led us to where we find ourselves today.

Cheney said party leaders “have made themselves willing hostages” to Trump:

I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump. History will be their judge. I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what.

Earlier this week Donald Trump told a Texas audience that he will consider a blanket pardon to participants in the attack, saying that they “were being treated so unfairly”, if he re-enters the White House. He also confirmed his plot for Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election by blocking the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden.

See also Trump Considered Blanket Pardon for All Participants in Capitol Attack
Trump Admits Plot for Pence to Overturn Biden’s Election

Pence pushed back on Friday in a speech to the conservative Federalist Society, “I heard this week, President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump is wrong….I had no right to overturn the election.” He was loudly applauded.

Trump snapped at Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell as well as Pence in his response, “Just saw Mike Pence’s statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything with respect to the Electoral Vote Count, other than being an automatic conveyor belt for the Old Crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected President as quickly as possible.”

“Shame Falls on A Party”

At least two Republican senators criticized the censure. Sen. Mitt Romney, the uncle of RNC chairwoman McDaniel, wrote:

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted alongside Romney to remove Trump from office over incitement, tweeted on his official account, “The RNC is censuring Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they are trying to find out what happened on January 6th – HUH?”

GOP Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, also a Republican decried “a sad day for my party — and the country”.

Most House Republicans ignored the censure or tried to brush it aside. Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas called it “dumb stuff”, and Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee said it was a distraction from “this abysmal administration’s record.”

But RNC members held firm in their defense of the attackers. Richard Porter of Illinois said:

The nominal Republicans on the committee provide a pastiche of bipartisanship, but no genuine protection or due process for the ordinary people who did not riot being targeted and terrorized by the committee. The investigation is a de facto Democrat-only investigation increasingly unmoored from congressional norms.

Kinzinger is not seeking re-election. Cheney is likely to face RNC backing for her main challenger in this spring’s Republican primary, Harriet Hageman.

The RNC resolution maintained that Kinzinger and Cheney “support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority [in Congress] in 2022”.