One of the two Republicans on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots said Sunday that every Republican will ultimately have to say whether they believe the events of the day represented “legitimate political discourse.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) was recently censured by the Republican National Committee with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) over their participation on the House select panel. During its winter meeting in Salt Lake City earlier this month, the RNC accused the two lawmakers “of participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Kinzinger said, “This is a moment where every Republican, I don’t care if you’re running for City Council all the way up to Congress, Senate, etc., every Republican has to be clear and forceful on the record: Do they think Jan. 6 was legitimate political discourse. Don’t let them avoid it, don’t let them hem haw, don’t let them transition to some other subject they’d rather talk about. This is an answer every one of them have to give, and then we can move on once they’re clear and on the record.”
He rebuffed statements by some fellow Republicans that the panel he’s serving on, which is chaired by Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, was picking on people who had nothing to do with the violence that day. Kinzinger said those Republicans know better.
Stating that he was pleased by recent remarks on Jan. 6 by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former Vice President Mike Pence, Kinzinger said he wanted to hear from more of his fellow lawmakers.
“I have lost faith in some of the courage of my colleagues,” he told host Margaret Brennan. “I thought that every person, when they swore an oath, had some version of a red line they would never cross.”
