Officials at the Republican National Committee (RNC) were moving forward this week with a resolution to censure Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) over their involvement in the House committee investigating last January’s Capitol riot, but neither of the Representatives appeared to be moved from their positions in favor of finding the truth. (Censure constitutes a formal rebuke.) Kinzinger reiterated his commitment to that fact-finding ambition in a statement that he shared this week ahead of the expected approval by the RNC of the censure resolution, commenting as follows:
‘I’ve been a member of the Republican Party long before Donald Trump entered the field. My values and core beliefs remain the same and have not wavered. I’m a conservative who believes in truth, freedom, and upholding the Constitution of the United States. Rather than focus their efforts on how to help the American people, my fellow Republicans have chosen to censure two lifelong Members of their party for simply upholding their oaths of office. They’ve allowed conspiracies and toxic tribalism [to] hinder their ability to see clear-eyed. My efforts will continue to be focused on standing up for truth and working to fight the political matrix that’s led us to this point.’
My statement on the RNC censure. I am now even more committed to fighting conspiracies and lies: pic.twitter.com/NzKK2s2kkC
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) February 4, 2022
Cheney commented similarly, saying (in part): “I’m a constitutional conservative and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump. History will be their judge.” Cheney also added, like Kinzinger, that she “will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what.” Cheney and Kinzinger don’t have a lot of allies on this issue among Republicans in Congress, many of whom are apparently willing to fundamentally stick by Trump even after he recently repeatedly raised the prospect of issuing pardons for Capitol rioters if he wins the presidency again. Trump claimed in a Newsmax interview that “some of these people are not guilty, many of these people are not guilty” — although many of the rioters’ crimes were literally captured on camera. Trump hasn’t always used this argument on the rioters’ behalf, but he’s apparently willing to gloss over the truth of what happened to the point of denying the duly documented reality.
The RNC is censuring Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they are trying to find out what happened on January 6th – HUH?
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) February 4, 2022
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), one of the seven Senate Republicans who voted for convicting Trump on an impeachment charge of incitement of insurrection after the riot, expressed confusion at Republican Party officials’ preparations to censure Kinzinger and Cheney, commenting on Twitter: “The RNC is censuring Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they are trying to find out what happened on January 6th – HUH?” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), another one of those seven pro-conviction Senate Republicans, added that “[shame] falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol.” The problem is that these are not the prevailing sentiments within the Republican Party.
Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol. Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) February 4, 2022
