A Republican National Committee panel voted to advance a measure to censure Representatives Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY) on Thursday evening.
The measure was unanimously passed and will be officially voted on by all 168 members of the RNC on Friday during the party’s winter meetings. Kinzinger and Cheney have been vocal critics of former President Donald J. Trump — often at odds with party leadership and the GOP base on a number of issues —and have been serving on the January 6th committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“The Republican National Committee hereby formally censures Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and shall immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party for their behavior, which has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic, and is inconsistent with the position of the conference,” the resolution said, according to NBC News.
“The Conference must not be sabotaged by Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who have demonstrated, with actions and words, that they support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority in 2022,” it added.
“Cheney and Kinzinger have engaged in actions in their positions as members of the January 6th Select Committee not befitting Republican members of Congress,” NBC reported the measures as saying. The two “seem intent on advancing a political agenda to buoy the Democrat Party’s bleak prospects in the upcoming midterm elections.”
After the call on Thursday night, RNC committeeman Tyler Bower said, “Everyone seems to agree that Liz and Adam shouldn’t be calling themselves Republicans taking orders from Democrats.”
“Huge congrats to @David_Bossie on his work here. He got somewhere in the ballpark of 60+ co-sponsors on this resolution— totally unheard of,” Bower added, noting that “no one at RNC can remember anything like this ever having to be done before.”
Huge congrats to @David_Bossie on his work here. He got somewhere in the ballpark of 60+ co-sponsors on this resolution— totally unheard of.
— Tyler Bowyer 🇺🇸 (@tylerbowyer) February 4, 2022
Cheney responded by saying, “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.”
“I’m a constitutional conservative and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump,” she added.
Kinzinger also rebuked the move, saying, “Rather than focus their efforts on how to help the American people, my fellow Republicans have chosen to censure two lifelong members of their party for simply upholding their oaths of office.”
“They’ve allowed conspiracies and toxic tribalism [to] hinder their ability to see clear-eyed,” he added.
The Leadership Institute and longtime RNC committeeman Morton Blackwell praised the move.
“Kinzinger has always been a contrarian Republican, and Liz Cheney had lots of redeeming features — but she’s gone off the reservation,” Blackwell said. “It’s intolerable. If you’re going to have a political party, there has to be some discipline involved. There have to be some limits.”
Former Republican presidential candidate and Utah Senator Mitt Romney, however, slammed the decision, saying, “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.”
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