Kevin McCarthy defends RNC censure of Cheney and Kinzinger, says 'legitimate political discourse' phrase refers to Republicans who 'were in Florida that day'

• Kevin McCarthy defended the RNC after it censured Cheney and Kinzinger for participating in the Jan 6 committee.
• McCarthy said that "legitimate political discourse" refers to people who "were in Florida that day."

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defended the wording of the Republican National Committee's censure resolution against Republican Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming on Tuesday.

The House GOP leader said RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel's comments accusing Kinzinger and Cheney of persecuting "legitimate political discourse" by serving on the House Select Committee probing January was referred to RNC members "who were in Florida" on January 6, 2021 and had been subpoenaed by the committee.

Followed down a hallway by CNN reporter Manu Raju, McCarthy was asked about the controversial phrasing of the resolution, which referred to the January 6 committee as a "Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."

"Everybody knows, anybody who broke in and caused damage, that was not called for," said McCarthy. "Those people, I've said from the very beginning, should be in jail."

But McCarthy disputed that the language in the resolution refers to the events of the January 6 assault on the Capitol as "legitimate political discourse."

"What they were talking about is the 6 RNC members who [the January 6 committee] has subpoenaed who weren't even here, who were in Florida that day," he said. Asked whether he supported the censure resolution, he declined to respond and continued walking.

—Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 8, 2022

McCarthy was likely referring to RNC members who have been subpoenaed in connection with a scheme for Trump supporters in states that voted for President Joe Biden to send false slates of presidential electors for Trump to official government bodies in Washington, including the National Archives.

It is unclear, however, which RNC members were "in Florida" on January 6.

The false slates of electors were not sanctioned or signed by any government body, like a governor, and did not have any legal authority whatsoever during the joint session of Congress to count electoral votes on January 6, 2021.

The January 6 Committee has subpoenaed 14 individuals who signed their names to fake slates of electors for Trump as the "chairperson" or "secretary" of the electors, CNN reported.

The false electoral slates in all seven states were signed by either the chair or vice-chair of the state's Republican Party organization, according to States Newsroom. Two of the people subpoenaed by the January 6 Committee, Kathy Berden of Michigan and James DeGraffenreid of Nevada, are RNC national committee members.

The Department of Justice and several state-level attorneys general are also investigating the fake slates of electors for potential crimes related to fraud or forgery.

Another top House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, also declined to condemn the RNC's censure of Kinzinger and Cheney, who she replaced as House GOP Conference Chair in May.

"My reaction is that the RNC has every right to take any action, and the position I have is that you're ultimately held accountable by voters in your district," Stefanik said in a Tuesday news conference.