Kinzinger says his warnings of violence prior to Capitol insurrection fell on deaf GOP ears

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, said Monday, May 10, his warning to House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy about potential violence just before the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection was met with a response of ”the cricket sound," and instead “they came back after Liz Cheney.”

The insurrection “was entirely predictable and could have been avoided. It’s ludicrous that [Rep.] Liz Cheney [R-Wyo.] is having to defend herself,” Kinzinger said.

Kinzinger spoke at a National Press Club Virtual Headliners event at the start of a week in which Cheney is likely to be ousted from the No. 3 position in the House GOP leadership. McCarthy has actively sought her removal.

Club Membership Secretary Emily Wilkins interviewed Kinzinger, who was sitting in a jacket and shirt open at the collar.

Earlier on Monday, Kinzinger called for a vote of no confidence in McCarthy, R-Calif. He said that “maybe 10” House colleagues – the same number of Republicans as those who voted to impeach Trump – may believe the election was stolen from the former president, a claim Trump often makes that has been refuted by state election tallies and court decisions.

“They know better,” he said. “But that’s how they win, so they compromise with the crazies basically every two years.”

He said that after Jan. 6, McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida resort, and basically handed the reins of the party to Trump.

”I’m not going to turn this over to him without a fight,” Kinzinger, a six-term Republican from northern Illinois, said of McCarthy. “I would put all my money that sometime in the future the (Republican) party will return to its roots – or die. The party’s in a pretty bad place. It’s a day by day battle.”

The GOP is focused on “policies driven by grievance” and by fear, he said. “Fear destroys democracy.”

Kinzinger, who served as an Air Force pilot in Iraq, debunked the perception that Trump is a powerful force.

“I think he’s a paper tiger. He’s never made a real decision in his life and he’s scared to death of his shadow," he said.

Kinzinger's criticism of Trump has made him the subject of attacks from other Republicans. He defended his conservative credentials, citing his opposition to the “breach and reach” of government programs.

“I’m way more conservative than the folks out there who think I’m a RINO,” Kinzinger said, referring to the acronym for Republican In Name Only. "But the big issue now is how we respect and talk to each other.”

Kinzinger repeatedly condemned the present climate of lies and disrespect. “A lie led to violence,” he said.

In his home district, he spoke with a person who was convinced that Trump won the election because “I just know that."

That attitude is difficult to overcome.

“You can’t argue with, ‘I just know,'” Kinzinger said.

Kinzinger recalled what he learned in Sunday School and the words of the New Testament and how those lessons differ from what he's hearing now some of his colleagues “who claim to be Christians” but countenance lies from politicians “if they’re against the left and abortion.”