Former President Donald Trump’s Republican Party declared this Friday (4) that the invasion of the Capitol, the seat of the US Legislature, a year ago, was a “legitimate political speech”. The episode, when Trump-inflated supporters tried to prevent the ratification of Joe Biden’s victory, was the biggest attack on US democracy in recent history.
The statement is part of an acronym resolution that censured the stance of two Republican lawmakers, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, for supporting the Congressional investigation into Trump’s efforts to disrupt the presidential election that propelled Biden to the White House.
Cheney and Kinzinger, from Wyoming and Illinois, respectively, voted to impeach Trump, a procedure opened when the former president was accused of inciting Americans to insurrection. Trump was acquitted by the Senate in what was the second impeachment trial he has faced.
The Republican National Committee accused lawmakers of participating in a “Democrat-led pursuit of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political speech.” The resolution was approved during a meeting of the acronym that had 168 members. The text also says that the actions of Cheney and Kinzinger undermine Republican efforts to regain a majority in Congress.
The document states that the committee will “immediately end any and all support for them” as party members, but does not go so far as to ask them to leave the party, as had been proposed previously. The two parliamentarians issued communiqués before the meeting rejecting the consequences that they already expected to suffer.
“GOP leaders have been held hostage by a man who admits to trying to overturn a presidential election and suggests he would pardon the January 6 defendants, some of whom are accused of conspiracy,” Liz Cheney said, referring to Trump have said that if he is re-elected in 2024, he will consider granting pardons to those convicted in the case.
Adam Kinzinger has said he has been a conservative Republican since before Trump entered politics. And he promised to continue “working to fight the political matrix that has led us to this point.”
The rebuke to parliamentarians was also criticized by other party members. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, for example, claimed on social media that Cheney and Kinzinger honored their roles in seeking the truth, even when it came at great personal cost. “Shame falls on a party that censures those who seek the truth,” he wrote.
Characterizing the intrusion of the Legislature as “legitimate political speech” also sparked criticism from Democrats, as expected. Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland called the description a “scandal that will horrify historians.” “The GOP is so lost that it now describes a coup attempt as a form of political expression,” said Raskin, who makes up the House special committee investigating the episode.
Four people died in the Capitol raid, and a police officer died the next day. About 140 security agents were injured and four others committed suicide shortly afterwards.
A year after the episode, 727 Americans were indicted by the US government for joining the violence. Fewer than 30 have already received relatively light prison sentences.
A recent survey, which profiled those who attacked the seat of the Legislature, showed that they were mostly extreme right-wing radical men with an average age of 42, well employed and socially adjusted.
Congress has advanced its investigation into the case, even as Trump and supporters such as former adviser Steve Bannon have tried to obstruct the process by refusing to provide documents.
Also on Friday, local media revealed that lawmakers have White House records that provide details about a phone call between Trump and Republican Representative Jim Jordan that took place on the morning of Jan. Jordan was one of those who came to the House floor during the ceremony ratifying Biden’s victory to oppose the Democrat’s certification as president.
He had refused to appear voluntarily to testify to the committee, adding to speculation that he had participated in the articulation that called on Trump supporters to occupy the surroundings of the Capitol and, later, invade it.
Source: Folha
