In a recently passed censure resolution targeting Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) for their participation in the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, Republican Party officials declared the targets of the committee’s probe to have engaged in “legitimate political discourse.” Eventually, party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel clarified that the language wasn’t meant to refer to individuals who attacked the Capitol — although the resolution made no such distinction. Even the notion that leaders of a major political party would be willing to simply ignore the violence of January 6 is disturbing; the resolution didn’t even acknowledge it. Federal Judge Beryl Howell has now joined those calling out the Republican Party. As Howell put it this week, according to reporter Kyle Cheney:
‘A major political party has described what happened on January 6 as legitimate political discourse. This was not legitimate political discourse.’
JUST NOW: Judge Beryl HOWELL, chief of the federal district court in DC, raps the Republican National Committee.
"A major political party has described whaat happened on Jan. 6 as legitimate political discourse. This was not legitimate epolitical discourse."
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 17, 2022
Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson also recently commented as follows, discussing the same destructive events:
‘It is not ‘legitimate political discourse,’ and it is not justified to descend on the nation’s Capitol at the direction of a disappointed candidate and disrupt the electoral process… Cancelling out the votes of other people with a show of force is the opposite of what America stands for.’
NEW YORK (AP) — Judge says Trump and 2 of his children must testify in New York attorney general investigation of his business practices.
— David Mack (@davidmackau) February 17, 2022
Jackson also noted — all during sentencing proceedings for Capitol rioter Mark Leffingwell — that the “lie that the election was stolen and illegitimate is still being perpetrated. Indeed, it is being amplified, not only on social media, but on mainstream news outlets, and worse, it’s become heresy for a member of the former president’s party to say otherwise. So, it needs to be crystal clear that it is not patriotism. It is not standing up for America.” Trump himself has essentially claimed otherwise, with his continued attempts at basically excusing what went on that day. He has even repeatedly raised the prospect of issuing pardons for rioters if he wins the presidency again, indicating that he’s apparently fine with glossing over an array of serious crimes.
NEW: US House Oversight Committee asks US General Services Admin. to terminate the DC Old Post Office lease held Donald Trump, citing the new questions about the reliability of Trump's financial statementshttps://t.co/4bKhuYyHLD
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) February 17, 2022
Republicans drew opposition for the “legitimate political discourse” line even from certain members of their own party, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). As she put it, discussing January 6: “We must not legitimize those actions which resulted in loss of life and we must learn from that horrible event so history does not repeat itself. As Americans we must acknowledge those tragic events, and we cannot allow a false narrative to be created. We cannot deny the truth—to suggest it was “legitimate political discourse” is just wrong.” Murkowski was one of seven Republican Senators who voted in favor of convicting Trump on an impeachment charge of incitement of insurrection after the riot, and she is currently facing a Trump-backed challenger in this year’s Republican primary race for her seat.
