Adam Kinzinger Puts GOP Colleagues On Direct Notice Over Censure

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Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) is not backing down amid Republican opposition to his efforts to uncover the truth surrounding last January’s assault on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Trump. Along with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Kiniznger was a target of a recent censure resolution from the Republican National Committee over participation in the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, and troublingly, that censure resolution declared targets of the committee’s probe to have engaged in “legitimate political discourse.” Party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel insisted that the language was not meant to refer to those who attacked the Capitol — but the resolution itself made no distinction along these lines, and either way: too many Republicans seem fine with glossing over violence.

Even accepting McDaniel’s explanation, it’s disturbing for leaders of a major political party to dismiss the reality of January 6 to the point of ignoring the violence that enveloped the Capitol. As Kinzinger put it:

‘Every Republican (up and down ballot, everywhere) must be asked this and only this: where do you stand on the RNC censure, until they clearly and directly answer. Pick a side, no more middle ground.’

When originally facing down the censure resolution, Kinzinger also commented that his fellow Republicans had “allowed conspiracies and toxic tribalism [to] hinder their ability to see clear-eyed,” adding: “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.” Near the top of the agenda for the riot panel are upcoming public hearings that are in development; committee members have already heard from over 500 witnesses, but so far, there’s been just one public hearing: last year’s gathering featuring four officers who participated in the January defense of the Capitol as witnesses. Cheney, the committee’s co-chair, said in a recent article for The Wall Street Journal that the panel’s hearings will show that “no foreign power corrupted America’s voting machines, and no massive secret fraud changed the election outcome.” She added that committee members are “focused on facts, not rhetoric, and we will present those facts without exaggeration, no matter what criticism we face.”