Republican Adam Kinzinger of Illinois expressed his concerns and fears if former United States President Donald Trump escapes charges related to his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riot.
The GOP member's remarks were made during an interview where he reflected on his work with the House Select Committee tasked with investigating the events of the unprecedented Capitol siege and his departure from Congress.
Adam Kinzinger's Fear
The lawmaker said that he was worried that failure to hold Trump accountable for his work related to the siege would set a dangerous bar for future leaders. Kinzinger said, "If he is not guilty of a crime, then I frankly fear for the future of this country, because now every future president can say, 'Hey, here's the bar.' And the bar is do everything you can to stay in power."
The Illinois Republican said that he is not a lawyer or a Justice Department official and was only speaking his personal opinion on the matter. However, he added that it was obvious that the former president's actions were problematic from a presidential perspective and from an oath perspective, as per Yahoo News.
Kinzinger added that if a president can incite an insurrection and not be held accountable for his actions, that means there is no limit to what a president can or cannot do. His remarks come after the Jan. 6 committee on Dec. 22 released its final report on Trump's attempts to maintain his presidency after losing to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.
The panel also recently released transcripts of interviews that it conducted with people who were close to the former president, including his son, Donald Trump Jr., his fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle, and his former adviser Stephen Miller.
According to CNN, Kinzinger is one of only two Republicans who served on the House Select Committee, alongside Liz Cheney of Wyoming. The panel last month laid out a case for the Justice Department and the public that there was evidence to pursue criminal charges against the former president on multiple criminal statutes.
Donald Trump and the Capitol Riot
The panel referred Trump to the DOJ on at least four criminal charges: obstructing an official proceeding, defrauding the United States, making false statements, and assisting or aiding an insurrection. Furthermore, the committee said that it had evidence of possible charges of conspiring to injure or impede an officer and seditious conspiracy.
However, the committee's referral is largely symbolic as it does not mandate the Justice Department to file charges against Trump. However, Jack Smith, who was appointed to investigate the former president, requested evidence that the panel had collected.
On Sunday, Kinzinger also blamed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for what the Illinois Republican called the "crazy elements" in Congress and for the reason Trump was still a "factor" in American politics.
Kinzinger noted that if he was able to have a one-on-one conversation with the minority leader, he would tell him how disappointed he was over the latter's leadership. He added that McCarthy had the opportunity to tell the "truth" as a leader in Congress but instead went to Mar-a-Lago weeks after the Capitol riot and "resurrected" Trump's relevance in politics, The Hill reported.
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