OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The two Republican members of the January 6 House Select Committee are furious after the Republican National Committee voted to censure them.
Both representatives had, what some could call, a tantrum on Twitter just before the official vote.
“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,” Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney said.
“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. I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what,” she added.
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. I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what. (2/2) https://t.co/HtgFzrCipd
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) February 4, 2022
“I’ve been a member of the Republican Party long before Donald Trump entered the field,’ he said, adding that his ‘core beliefs’ have not changed,” GOP Rep. Kinzinger said.
“Rather than focus their efforts on how to help the American people, my fellow Republicans have chosen to censure to lifelong Members of their party for simply upholding their oaths of office,” he said. “They’ve allowed conspiracies and toxic tribalism 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,” he said.
According to the Washington Post, via the Daily Mail, the Republican National Committee, which is meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, from Wednesday through Friday, will consider a proposal to formally expel the two lawmakers from the House GOP Conference for attempting to “destroy President Trump.
The push, which is being led by former Trump adviser David Bossie, comes at the RNC’s annual meeting. Cheney and Kinzinger are the only two Republicans on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hand-picked Jan. 6 Committee investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol Building, which both GOP lawmakers have blamed on Trump.
New: Trump ally and RNC member David Bossie is pushing the Republican Party to formally rebuke and evict Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger at the party's annual meeting this week. He has submitted a resolution that could lead to an interesting vote/showdown. https://t.co/G3PYdcayx1
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 31, 2022
The Daily Mail adds:
His co-sponsor is Wyoming state RNC Chair Frank Eathorne, another Trump ally who attended the protest outside the Capitol on January 6 last year. The Wyoming GOP voted to un-recognize Cheney in 2021 over her efforts to work with Democrats on the Capitol riot committee.
The reported resolution is the highest-profile spat yet in the growing divide between Trump allies within the GOP and those who believe he should be held accountable for the January 6 Capitol riot and pushing false 2020 election conspiracy theories.
It’s extremely rare for federal elected officials to be ejected from their own party.
Cheney has already been censored by several county-level Republican Party organizations. And Kinzinger has opted not to run for reelection in November after Illinois Democrats redrew his district following the 2020 Census in a way that makes it nearly impossible for him to win.
According to reports, the resolution text accuses Cheney, who was replaced as head of the House GOP Conference last year by Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, and Kinzinger of attempting to “destroy” the former president by working with Pelosi’s committee.
Bossie’s resolution suggests that the two lawmakers instead focus on helping GOP candidates win in November rather than work with Democrats on the panel, according to people with knowledge of the document.
“We want to send a message that we’re disapproving of their conduct. It´s a middle ground,’ RNC member Harmeet Dhillon said to the Associated Press and, she said, the vote was unanimous.
“This is not about being anti-Trump. There are many anti-Trump Republicans that are not included in this resolution. These two took a specific action to defy party leadership,” she said.
