Washington (AFP) - Republicans censured two lawmakers on Friday for joining the investigation into Donald Trump's role in the 2021 US Capitol assault, declaring the deadly insurrection "legitimate political discourse."
Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the lone Republicans on the House select committee probing the January 6 attack, are regarded as adversaries of the ex-president, who retains his iron grip on the party despite losing the 2020 election.
The 168 Republican National Committee (RNC) members, gathered for their winter meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, approved a formal censure accusing the pair of behavior that is "destructive to the US House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic."
The resolution called the investigation "a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse," although after the wording sparked uproar, RNC leaders said they were referring to the actions of people "who had nothing to do with violence."
Investigators are probing links between the Trump White House and the mob of his supporters who invaded the Capitol on the day it was due to certify Joe Biden as winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Four people in the crowd died amid the bloodshed.Five policemen who had been at the scene died in the days and weeks that followed, mostly by suicide.Another 138 officers were wounded, some seriously.
Hardline Trump loyalists have been pushing for months for Cheney and Kinzinger to be expelled, particularly as the investigation has closed in on the former president's inner circle.
The censure, which marks a significant escalation of the drive to oust dissidents seen as disloyal to Trump, proved controversial even to some Republicans.
'Hostages' to Trump
"Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol," said 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, whose niece Ronna McDaniel runs the Republican National Committee.
"Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost."
Democratic National Committee Rapid Response Director Ammar Moussa accused Republicans of having "no low they will not go to protect Donald Trump and his chaos."
"They have no vision, no agenda, and are completely subservient to Trump, even if it means undermining our democracy and inciting further violence," he said.
The censure nevertheless passed by an overwhelming voice vote without any discussion, video of the meeting captured by The Hill newspaper showed, as the party officially declared the Capitol assault and events that led to it "legitimate political discourse."
The resolution wasn't read out, and the whole item of business took about a minute.
With Kinzinger retiring from Congress after the November midterm elections, and Cheney in danger of losing her Wyoming seat, the party leadership is said to be keen to put the issue behind them.
Republicans are hoping instead to focus on hitting President Joe Biden on his stalled domestic agenda, spiraling inflation and the stubborn pandemic ahead of the midterms.
Cheney responded to news of the censure motion by doubling down on her Trump criticism.
"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 January 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy," she said in a statement 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," Cheney added."I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic.No matter what."
