Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday condemned his party’s description last week of the Capitol riot as “legitimate political discourse,” and blasted its decision to censure Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY). “We saw it happen,” he said during a conference after a Senate Republican luncheon. “It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.” The minority leader said the Republican National Committee went too far when it censured the two House representatives, both of whom serve on the select committee investigating the riot. “The issue is whether or not the RNC should be sort of singling out members of our party who may have different views of the majority,” he said. “That’s not the job of the RNC.” While McConnell has repeatedly described Jan. 6 as an attack on democracy by Trump supporters, he voted against a bipartisan Senate commission to investigate it and voted against President Trump’s second impeachment.
