Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chairwoman, told reporters Tuesday that the Republican National Committee had “every right” to censure fellow Republican Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their work on the House committee investigating the events surrounding the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol complex.
“The RNC has every right to take any action,” Stefanik, who replaced Cheney as the No. 3 House Republican after her Wyoming colleague staunchly criticized former President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims of a stolen election and his actions leading up to the riot, said.
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“The position that I have is that you’re ultimately held accountable to voters in your district,” Stefanik continued.
Stefanik’s position is at odds with many Republican senators, who criticized the RNC for taking aim at its members in a move they said could shrink the party by broadening divisions. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitt Romney of Utah told Politico they reached out to the RNC directly. Romney said he texted RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who is his niece.
The RNC censure included the phrase “legitimate political discourse” to describe the events of Jan. 6, but McDaniel later said in a statement that the phrase referenced those who did not commit violence that day.
Asked if she would describe the events of Jan. 6 as legitimate political discourse, Stefanik said, “We have been clear in that condemnation.”
“House Democrats did not condemn the violence that happened all of 2020,” she said in reference to riots in some cities following the murder of George Floyd in police custody. “And we believe the January 6 commission is political theater.”
Both Cheney and Kinzinger stood by their work on the committee. Cheney said in a statement following the censure that Republican Party leaders “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.”
“I’m a constitutional conservative and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump,” Cheney said. “History will be their judge. I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what.”
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Kinzinger said on Twitter that he is “now even more committed to fighting conspiracies and lies.”
Asked if further action would be taken against Cheney and Kinzinger within the House conference, Stefanik sidestepped the question, saying it “did not come up” in their Tuesday meeting.
