The Republican party has been wracked by new internal tensions after it officially defended the January 6 rioters that assaulted Congress as proponents of “legitimate political discourse” who were being unfairly targeted.
The statement by the Republican National Committee — the party’s leadership body — triggered a sharp backlash from some party lawmakers and top former officials, highlighting the rift that still exists over Donald Trump’s role as the GOP tries to regain control of Congress in the November midterm elections.
HR McMaster, a White House national security adviser under Trump, told CBS on Sunday that the attack was “illegitimate political discourse because it was an assault on the first branch of government”.
Marc Short, who was chief of staff to vice-president Mike Pence at the time of the attack, said “from my front-row seat I did not see a lot of legitimate political discourse”.
“As Americans we must acknowledge those tragic events, and we cannot allow a false narrative to be created. We cannot deny the truth — to suggest it was ‘legitimate political discourse’ is just wrong,” Lisa Murkowski, the Republican senator from Alaska, wrote on Twitter on Saturday.