One of two Republicans on the House January 6 committee has said he regrets his vote against the first impeachment of Donald Trump, for withholding military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to obtain dirt on rivals including Joe Biden.
In tweets posted on Friday, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continued, with cities besieged and bombarded, Adam Kinzinger said: “I want to be honest, in Congress I have only a few votes that in hinds[igh]t, I regret. My biggest regret was voting against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
“It’s important for political leaders to be transparent and admit regret when needed. The bottom line, Donald Trump withheld lethal aid to Ukraine so he could use it as leverage for his campaign. This is a shameful and illegal act, directly hurting the Ukraine defense today.
“I wish I could go back in time and vote for it, but I cannot. What we can do now is to ensure that this never happens again, and that we all put the interests of our nation above our party. Alexander Vindman [a White House official who was fired for opposing Trump’s Ukraine scheme] and others deserve our appreciation.”
No House Republicans voted to impeach Trump over the Ukraine scandal, which saw only the Utah senator Mitt Romney vote to convict in the Senate. Kinzinger, from Illinois, was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him for inciting the deadly Capitol attack.
Kinzinger is also among such Republicans who have announced that they will retire at the next election, rather than face a Trump-anointed challenger.
Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the other Republican on the January 6 committee, faces such a primary challenge. She also voted not to impeach Trump over Ukraine but to impeach him over the Capitol riot.
Trump is in legal jeopardy over January 6, his attempts to overturn the election and his business affairs. But he still dominates the Republican party and polling of possible presidential nominees in 2024. He has hinted heavily and repeatedly that he will indeed run.
In response to Kinzinger’s tweets, Edward Luce of the Financial Times said he “want[ed] to hear more as it can’t be that you were ignorant of the facts or of the nature of Trump”.
Luce added: “It’s always admirable to admit mistakes … it would be an even greater service to hear about the psychology of such politics as most of his colleagues are still acting that way.”
Kinzinger did not immediately elaborate.
His party remains home to politicians who have praised Vladimir Putin, not least Trump himself.
The former president has repeatedly praised the Russian president for being smart, though he has condemned the Ukraine war. On Thursday night, Trump repeatedly rebuffed attempts by the Fox News host Sean Hannity to get him to say Putin was “evil” or an “enemy”.
Another House Republican, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, a prominent Trump supporter, was reported this week to have called the president of Ukraine, Volodomyr Zelenskiy, a “thug” and his government “incredibly evil”.
On Twitter, Kinzinger said: “This is the sad but successful impact of Russia’s cyber operation that we’ve seen pushed and promoted on conservative outlets. The threat is real and it’s dangerous. Case in point: a sitting US congressman is echoing Putin propaganda.”
