Republican party: Capitol attack is "legitimate political discourse"
A resolution by the Republican National Committee (RNC) claimed the January 6 panel were persecuting "ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."
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The January 6 Capitol attack (AP)
According to a Democrat on the January 6 panel investigating the attacks on Capitol Hill, historians would be "aghast" at the Republican party calling the insurgency led by Donald Trump "legitimate political discourse," during a Friday meeting as part of the official censure of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the sole Republicans on the panel.
The resolution accused Cheney and Kinzinger of persecuting ordinary citizens for their participation in the incursion.
Rick Wilson, a former Republican strategist who now works for the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said the resolution demonstrated that his previous party has devolved into a "cult."
"Republicans don't get to retcon 1/6," he remarked.
On January 6, 2021, two weeks before Joe Biden's inauguration, Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol whom the former president had encouraged to "fight like hell."
Former US President Donald Trump's appeal to halt the release of records related to the January 6 capitol storming was denied.
The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack closed in on Donald Trump’s inner circle in January, issuing subpoenas to three new White House officials involved in planning the former president’s appearance at the rally that preceded the 6 January insurrection.
The insurrection left 7 people dead and more than 100 officers injured, including four officers who later committed suicide. More than 700 persons have been charged as a result of the investigation.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, has been indicted with two counts of contempt of Congress by a federal grand jury, following his failure to comply in October with a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee. Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, may suffer the same punishment.
Trump was impeached for encouraging an insurgency, but Republican senators acquitted him. If he is re-elected president, he has frequently vowed to pardon the January 6 rioters. He has declared publicly that his objective is to "overturn" the election.
Revelations about his role in the attack keep surfacing.
Read more: The Guardian: Next US civil war is already here
CNN reported that Trump spoke with Jim Jordan of Ohio, a key House supporter, for 10 minutes on January 6. What he knew is still being investigated.
At a Florida event on Friday, Mike Pence spoke out against Trump and said "Trump was wrong." He added that he [Pence] had no right to overturn the election. The truth is there’s more at stake than our party or our political fortunes. If we lose faith in the constitution, we won’t just lose elections – we’ll lose our country.”
Mitt Romney, a 2012 Republican presidential nominee, said “Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol,” Romney wrote. “Honour attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost.”
Kinzinger will depart Congress in November, joining the ranks of Republicans who voted for impeachment and have stated their intention to resign. He said he was censured for honoring his oath of duty by a party that had "allowed conspiracies and toxic tribalism to hinder their ability to see clear-eyed."
Cheney, the daughter of former congressman, defense secretary, and vice president Dick Cheney, is up against a Trump-backed rival who has the support of her own state party.
According to Cheney “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.”
