www.arkansasonline.com WASHINGTON — Sen. John Boozman on Tuesday said it was not the right move for the Republican National Committee to censure Rep. Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on a congressional panel that’s investigating the storming of the U.S. Capitol last year.
Instead, censures should be addressed at the state party level, he said.
“The idea of the Republican National Committee making that move is a bad choice,” said Boozman, a Republican from Rogers.
The RNC last week censured Cheney of Wyoming and fellow GOP lawmaker Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, pointing to their involvement on the select committee that’s looking into the deadly attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Cheney and Kinzinger are the only two Republicans on the panel.
In January 2021, rioters backing then-President Donald Trump violently fought their way into the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers conducted a process to formalize President Joe Biden’s election victory.
Boozman, who has embraced an endorsement from Trump, is facing challengers in the Republican primary this year.
The RNC criticized the select committee for going forward with a “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Little Rock on Tuesday declined to comment on the move by the RNC.
A spokesperson for Rep. Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Hot Springs who represents the state’s 4th Congressional District, also declined to comment.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, has pushed back against the RNC censure.
“The censure resolution by the RNC is wrong; undermines respect for our rule of law; and divides our party unnecessarily,” Hutchinson said in a statement. “I am grateful for those courageous dissenters in the RNC vote.”
Rep. Rick Crawford, a Republican from Jonesboro, issued a statement Tuesday saying Republicans cannot afford to lose focus.
“Our top priority must [be] to end the Biden-Harris single-party rule of our government in November 2022,” he said in a statement.
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