Rep. Adam Kinzinger suspects fellow GOP lawmakers knew what would happen on January 6: 'I saw the threats'
- Adam Kinzinger told NYT Magazine that he suspects some Republicans knew what would happen on Jan. 6.
- Kinzinger pointed to a tweet from Lauren Boebert on that day that said: "Today is 1776."
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois in a recent interview with New York Times Magazine said he suspected some Republican lawmakers knew there would be an insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.
"I won't name names, but yes, I do have that suspicion. I will say, if you just looked at Twitter - the whole reason I brought my gun and kept my staff home and told my wife to stay in the apartment was looking at Twitter. I saw the threats," Kinzinger said.
Kinzinger specifically called out GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado over a tweet she sent ahead of the fatal riot at the Capitol. On the morning of January 6, Boebert tweeted: "Today is 1776."
"I don't know what that meant other than this is the time for revolution," Kinzinger said of Boebert's tweet. "Maybe it was a dumb tweet that she didn't mean. Fine. I'll give her that credit for now. But if you have members of Congress who were involved in nurturing an insurrection, heck yeah, we need to know."
The Illinois lawmaker was one of just 10 Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for provoking the January 6 insurrection.
After weeks of attempting to overturn the 2020 election and spreading false claims about the result, Trump delivered an incendiary, lie-filled speech outside of the White House shortly before the riot began. During the speech, Trump reiterated baseless claims that he won the election and President Joe Biden had "stolen"it from him. The insurrection delayed, but did not ultimately prevent, the certification of Biden's Electoral College victory.
Months after leaving office, and Trump has still not acknowledged that he was fairly defeated by Biden in 2020.
Numerous Republican lawmakers in Washington have amplified Trump's "big lie" while attempting to rewrite the history of the Capitol attack, which left five people dead. Republicans have also moved to block Democratic efforts to further investigate the events of January 6, while ostracizing GOP lawmakers who don't echo Trump's false claims about the election.
Tuesday marked six months since the deadly riot.