Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) ripped House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) over the California Republican’s weakness in the face of defining moment in history in the United States.
Kinzinger, a member of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, called McCarthy is “the weakest leader that has ever existed in that position” for giving up the Republican Party to Donald Trump without a fight.
“It’s a defining moment for the party and I think it’s a defining moment for every member of the House or the Senate or any Republican leader,” Kinzinger told host Mika Brzezinski. “Kevin McCarthy, obviously, who I think asked about this in response, he just went after Liz and I, goes to show he is the weakest leader that has ever, frankly, existed in that position. So I think every member of the media, every citizen, every person out there needs to pin down every Republican and say do you side with what the RNC did or do you condemn what they did and don’t let them — trust me, politicians are really good at skirting around that answer.”
“Don’t let them on this one,” he added. “It’s so defining.”
Kinzinger’s remarks came after the Republican National Committee moved to censure him and fellow GOP Rep. Liz Cheney over their role in the investigation of the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
The Illinois Republican said he was shocked that the RNC resolution explicitly approved the violence carried out by Donald Trump supporters against law enforcement as they tried to overturn the election.
“That was obviously a huge surprise to me,” Kinzinger said. “I expected that maybe this censure thing was going to happen. The amazing thing about it is as [RNC chair] Rona McDaniel is out saying that’s not what we really meant. This whole thing is coming from the Jan. 6 committee, which we’re doing because of the violence. We would not be having a Jan. 6 committee if it was all peaceful and legitimate discourse.”
Kinzinger added that fear is keeping many Republicans from speaking out against the former president.
“You know there are members on that committee that disagreed with this that were too scared to speak up and stop that from happening There are members of the Republican Party probably who have been there for 30 years that are scared to death of the mob excluding them that they won’t even speak up,” Kinzinger said. “The RNC deserves every aspect of backlash that is going to come down on it ,and this is a defining moment in American politics and in the RNC’s future.”
“Are you for authoritarianism,” he added, “or are you for democracy and are you going to come back to democracy again?”
Watchthe interview below via MSNBC:
