House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (NY) tore into Republicans for claiming that the Jan. 6 committee is going after “legitimate political discourse.”
At a House Democratic leadership press conference on the Hill Tuesday, a reporter asked about the controversy around the resolution to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), which referred to the Jan. 6 committee as “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
After caucus Vice Chair Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) defended the scope and activities of the Jan. 6 committee, the New York congressman stepped to the lectern and completely unloaded on his Republican colleagues:
The “C” in R.N.C doesn’t stand for committee, it stands for cult. It’s not the Republican National Committee, it’s the Republican National Cult.That is the only way you can explain how the Grand Old Party would come to the conclusion that people who engaged in rampant mob violence, urinated, defecated, desecrated the Capitol, brutally beat up police officers, seriously injured more than 140. Police officers lost their lives as a result of the events of Jan. 6.And the cult says it’s “legitimate political discourse?”They’ve come to that conclusion because they continue to bend the knee to the former twice impeached so-called President Donald Trump. Ronna McDaniel should be ashamed of herself. What makes it worse, what makes it worse is that our Republican
colleagues here in the Capitol refuse to denounce it. Because they’re part of the cult as well.
Hours later, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if she agreed with Rep. Jeffries, and her answer was not “no.”
A considerably less fiery Psaki did similarly note that “Storming the Capitol in an attempt to halt the peaceful transition of power is not legitimate discourse, neither is attacking and injuring over 140 police officers, smashing windows, and defiling offices.”
But she also pointed out that some former Republican officials “have rejected that characterization.”
Watch above via House Democrats.