In a New York-minute, the Republican National Committee voted Friday to censure Representatives Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).
An overwhelming majority of the 168 members at the Salt Lake City, Utah meeting voted to formally censure the two and immediately stop supporting them as members of the Republican party. The censure was in reaction to their participation in the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. The censure resolution said their behavior is destructive to the institution they serve, the Republican party and the Republic. It is also considered inconsistent with the position of the conference.
Conference members said they wanted to ensure Republicans were not sabotaged by Reps. Cheney and Kinzinger whom they claim have demonstrated through their actions and words that they support Democrat efforts to destroy former President Donald Trump more than restoring a Republican majority, in November’s midterm election.
Although the censure ends party support for them, it does not address kicking them out of the party, as initially proposed. The committee uses some of its funds to help support Republican candidates in their campaigns. The former president is seen as having considerable influence still that may bear on the Nov. 8 midterm election. He has railed against Republicans, like Cheney and Kinzinger, who have not bowed to his will.
The two censured Reps. are prominent critics of Trump who both voted last year to impeach him for allegedly inciting the deadly storming of the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt Congressional certification of the 2020 election. Adding insult to injury, Cheney and Kinzinger are the only two Republican members on the House Select Committee investigating the riot.
“The leaders of the Republican Party have made themselves willing hostages to a man who admits he tried to overturn a presidential election and suggests he would pardon Jan. 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy,” Cheney said, according to report by Reuters.
N.H. Republican Party Chair Steve Stepanek noted the RNC’s resolution was diluted to avoid stepping on the toes of House Republican leaders. “It’s up to Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans to decide if they want to take further steps,” said Stepanek, according to Fox News.
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the censure was meant for “ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.” in a Friday afternoon statement, the Post noted. The party also made plans to help beat Cheney in a Wyoming primary by passing a special rule that let them recognize her challenger, Harriet Hageman, as the party’s presumptive nominee.
“I’m a constitutional conservative and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump,” Cheney said. “History will be their judge.”
“I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic,” she added, “no matter what.”
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