“If this is not a crime, I don’t know what is. If a president can incite an insurrection and not be held accountable, then really there’s no limit to what a president can do or can’t do,” the Illinois lawmaker instructed CNN’s Dana Bash.
“I think the Justice Department will do the right thing. I think he will be charged, and I frankly think he should be.”
“If he is not guilty of a crime, then I frankly fear for the future of this country.”
Kinzinger served as one in all two Republican members on the House choose committee investigating the Capitol riot.
The committee referred Trump to the division on a minimum of 4 legal costs: obstructing an official continuing, defrauding the US, making false statements, and helping or aiding an revolt.
The panel additionally stated in its govt abstract that it had proof of doable costs of conspiring to injure or impede an officer and seditious conspiracy.
In follow, the referral is successfully a symbolic measure. It doesn’t require the Justice Department to behave, although particular counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to research Trump, has requested proof collected by the choose committee.
“The Republican Party is not the future of this country unless it corrects,” Kinzinger instructed Bash, including that he views GOP chief Kevin McCarthy as accountable for Trump’s political resurrection following January 6.
“Donald Trump is alive today politically because of Kevin McCarthy.
“He went to Mar-a-Lago a pair weeks after January 6 and resurrected Donald Trump.
“He is the reason Donald Trump is still a factor.”
Kinzinger stated that whereas he’s “fearful in the short term” for American democracy, he’s extra hopeful in the long term.
“I feel honoured to be at this moment in history and to have done the right thing,” stated the congressman, who has confronted intraparty criticism for his stance on Trump.
The Illinois Republican, who didn’t search reelection final 12 months, stated he wouldn’t do “one thing differently” however wouldn’t miss being in Congress.
And whereas he stated it could be “fun” to debate Trump, Kinzinger instructed Bash he would not intend to run for president in 2024.
Another retiring House Republican, in the meantime, expressed optimism about the way forward for Congress.
“I know who I work with in Congress. There is a middle class. You don’t see them or hear them much because like the middle class, they’re serious about their jobs,” Texas’ Kevin Brady stated on Fox News Sunday.
“I think if people could see more of that working class in Congress, you would have more confidence, as I do.”
Donald Trump pronounces he is working for president in 2024
Brady, the outgoing high Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, additionally stated it was his “hope” that McCarthy wins his speakership bid.
“I think Kevin McCarthy understands this conference in a big way. He’s worked with folks across the whole spectrum,” Brady stated.
“I am confident he can pull these final votes together.”
With House Republicans solely having a slim majority within the subsequent Congress, McCarthy has struggled to lock down the votes wanted on Tuesday to be the subsequent speaker, even after making a variety of important concessions to GOP critics in latest days.
House Republicans are holding a convention name on Sunday as McCarthy continues his quest to safe the help of a minimum of 218 lawmakers within the upcoming flooring vote, based on two sources acquainted.
