The Republican National Committee voted to censure U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for serving on the House committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol last year, saying the panel is “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
By a voice vote without discussion, the RNC approved a resolution censuring the lawmakers at its winter meeting in Utah on Friday. The resolution said their participation on the panel hurts the party and its efforts to win back congressional majorities in 2022.
The censure shows the grip former President Donald Trump still holds on the base of the GOP, but it drew pushback from some Republicans. Critics said it is wrong for the party to punish two of its members for helping to investigate the Jan. 6 riot — and counterproductive to focus on Republicans instead of President Joe Biden and Democrats ahead of midterm elections in November that will determine party control of Congress.
Some also see the move as showing loyalty to Trump, who has called the Jan. 6 investigation a “witch hunt,” said he would consider pardons for those charged in the attack if he runs again and wins, and demanded support for his baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
“The party that long valued individuality and differences of opinion now demands fealty to the election results lie,” Mike DuHaime, a GOP strategist and former RNC political director, said on Twitter. “And it stupidly keeps the focus on Trump instead of Biden.”
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in the impeachment for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, said in a tweet, “The RNC is censuring Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they are trying to find out what happened on January 6th - HUH?”
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who also voted to convict Trump, said on Twitter that “shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol.” He also said “honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost.”
Cheney, who faces a daunting primary race in Wyoming from a Trump-backed challenger, and Kinzinger, who’s not seeking re-election in Illinois, issued statements saying they were upholding their oaths to support the U.S. Constitution.
“I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump,” Cheney said. “History will be their judge.”
