Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger Face RNC Censure As Jan. 6 Investigation Ramps Up

The Republican National Committee will vote on Friday on whether to censure Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the only two GOP lawmakers on the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack.

The RNC is due to decide whether to pass a resolution to censure the pair during a meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. A sub-committee unanimously voted to move forward with the resolution on Thursday.

The resolution, if passed, "would immediately cease any and all support" for the two lawmakers, claiming their actions have been "destructive" to the institution of the House of Representatives and the Republican Party.

The resolution is watered down from a previous version brought forward by David Bossie, a longtime ally of Donald Trump and RNC member from Maryland, who sought to expel Cheney and Kinzinger from the party over their attacks on the former president.

Kinzinger and Cheney are arguably Trump's biggest critics in the GOP and have repeatedly condemned the former president for his false claims of election fraud and his actions ahead of the Capitol riot.

The censure vote comes as the January 6 select committee has ramped up its investigation into Trump, including subpoenaing more of his inner circle to provide documents and seeking voluntary testimony and phone call records from two of his children, Eric and Ivanka Trump.

Cheney, who is vice chair of the January 6 committee, has criticized GOP members who are remaining loyal to Trump even after his latest contentious statements about the 2020 election and his promise to pardon Capitol rioters.

"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," Cheney said on Thursday.

"I'm a constitutional conservative and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump. History will be their judge. I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what."

Kinzinger said that by voting to censure him and Cheney, the GOP had allowed "conspiracies and toxic tribalism [to] hinder their ability to see clear-eyed."

He added: "My efforts will continue to be focused on standing up for truth and working to fight the political matrix that's led us to this point."

Cheney and Kinzinger were among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his actions ahead of the Capitol attack. In May 2021, Cheney was ousted from her role in the House Republican leadership and replaced with a Trump ally.

Speaking to Politico, Harmeet Dhillon, a committee member from California who is one of the censure resolution's dozens of co-sponsors, denied that the vote on Friday was about the lawmakers being anti-Trump.

"There are plenty of other people in the party who are anti-Trump whose names don't appear in the resolution. These two took specific action to defy party leadership," Dhillon said.

Not all Republicans are supporting the censure vote, however.

Bill Palatucci, an RNC member from New Jersey, told Politico: "I still don't think it's a good idea. I'm glad it was watered down to essentially just a statement of the committee. But we should be shooting at Democrats, not Republicans."

GOP Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana tweeted: "The RNC is censuring Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they are trying to find out what happened on January 6th - HUH?"

The RNC has been contacted for comment.