Sen. Mitt Romney condemns GOP leaders’ move to censure Reps. Cheney, Kinzinger for ‘seeking truth’ about Jan. 6 attack
"Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol."
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, on Friday criticized his party’s leaders, including his niece, for seeking to punish the two Republican members of the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
The Republican National Committee is preparing to take action against Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., for their work on the panel.
“Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol,” the former Massachusetts governor said in a tweet. “Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost.”
The RNC is expected to formally condemn the two lawmakers Friday and plans to fund a primary challenge against Cheney. The resolution states that the behavior of Cheney and Kinzinger “has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic.”
“We’ve had two members engage in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse. This has gone beyond their original intent. They are not sticking up for hard-working Republicans,” RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told The Washington Post in an interview.
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McDaniel is Romney’s niece. She had used her maiden name for years in Michigan, where she was state party chair, but dropped “Romney” from most official party communications upon becoming RNC chairwoman in 2017, following a request from President Donald Trump.
In a party that continues to embrace Trump, Romney has stood out as one of the few congressional Republicans — along with Cheney and Kinzinger — to criticize the former president’s actions. In 2020, Romney was the sole Senate Republican to vote to convict Trump of abuse of power; he also blasted Trump’s efforts to pressure Republicans to overturn the 2020 election as among the most “undemocratic” actions ever taken by a sitting president.
The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey and Michael Scherer contributed to this report.
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