A smattering of Republican politicians and operatives are criticizing the Republican National Committee’s adoption of a resolution to rebuke Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their participation in the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Among those was Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the uncle of Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
“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,” Romney said in a tweet Friday.
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CENSURES LIZ CHENEY AND ADAM KINZINGER
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
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy reacted with disbelief: “HUH?”
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
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan also spoke against the censure.
“The GOP I believe in is the party of freedom and truth. It’s a sad day for my party — and the country — when you’re punished just for expressing your beliefs, standing on principle, and refusing to tell blatant lies,” he tweeted.
The GOP I believe in is the party of freedom and truth.
It’s a sad day for my party—and the country—when you’re punished just for expressing your beliefs, standing on principle, and refusing to tell blatant lies.
— Larry Hogan (@LarryHogan) February 4, 2022
Those expressing their unhappiness with the move are in the minority. The resolution censoring Cheney and Kinzinger was adopted at the RNC’s Winter Meeting on Friday by voice vote, with only a handful of audible no votes. Some House Republicans have been pushing for months to remove the two from the House Republican Conference.
But not all House Republicans are on board with the rebuke.
“I don’t understand, when there’s so many bigger fish to fry, this is rising to the top. It just doesn’t seem productive,” Michigan Republican Rep. Peter Meijer, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump last year, told the Washington Examiner Friday.
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele called the censure a “pathetic act of cowardice.”
Doug Heye, who was a top RNC communications staffer in 2010, tweeted that “censures claiming those who attacked Capitol police & wanted Mike Pence hung were ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse’ is the worst kind of gaslighting & just embassarring.”
Al Cardenas, a former Florida GOP chairman, said he would no longer contribute to the RNC.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The resolution censuring Cheney and Kinzinger said the two are participating in the “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
In a statement, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel qualified that those engaging in “legitimate political discourse” targeted by the Jan. 6 committee “had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.” Republicans have highlighted the committee issuing subpoenas for low-level organizers of the Jan. 6 ellipse rally, forcing them to shell out money for lawyers.
