The Republican National Committee’s censure of GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) and Liz Cheney (Wyo.) is causing a split in the Republican Party due, in part, to the RNC’s characterization of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as “legitimate political discourse.”
However, according to the New York Times, it could have been much worse.
The Times reports that an early draft of the resolution condemned Cheney and Kinzinger for participating in “a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in nonviolent and legal political discourse.” In the final resolution that passed, the words ‘nonviolent and legal’ were removed and replaced with ‘legitimate’ to read: “ a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
Even this change, which a source attributed to routine editing decision, is causing major infighting within the GOP.
On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) criticized the RNC’s censure of Kinzinger and Cheney and called the Jan. 6 attack a “violent insurrection.”
“We all were here. We saw what happened. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That’s what it was,” McConnell, told reporters at his weekly news conference.
“The issue is whether or not the RNC should be, sort of, singling out members of our party who may have different views from the majority. That’s not the job of the RNC,” McConnell added.
On the other hand, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) defended the resolution, telling CNN that it was meant to condemn the House committee’s targeting of conservatives who were nowhere near Washington on Jan. 6 and had nothing to do with the attack.
“What they were talking about is the six RNC members who Jan 6th has subpoenaed, who weren’t even here, who were in Florida that day,” McCarthy said. It is unclear which six members of the RNC McCarthy is referring to.
