House GOP: Trump’s Jan. 6 Actions "Not Insurrection"

More than 60 lawmakers signed onto the declaration that Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 “were not insurrection” after courts and state elections officials have declared Trump to be an insurrectionist who is barred to hold office under the 14th Amendment, as reported by Luke Broadwater for the New York Times.

A scene from what has often been downplayed by hard-right GOP representatives as an "uprising." I Photo: Brett Davis Flickr

As officials across the country consider whether to bar former President Donald J. Trump from the ballot over his role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, a contingent of House Republicans is trying to bolster his claim that he did nothing wrong.

However, their political statement has been shot down by Democrats and critics, who argue the position paper is a cheap stunt.

More than 60 Republicans — led by Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Elise Stefanik of New York — said on Tuesday that they had signed onto a resolution declaring that Trump “did not engage in insurrection.”

The measure aims to influence courts and state election officials who are weighing whether Trump is eligible to hold office under the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists, an issue that is casting a cloud over the primary season and as Trump closes in on the Republican nomination.

The statement was signed on the day that the GOP suffered back-to-back in the House and after a Washington DC appeals court voted 3-0 to declare that Citizen Trump does not have any immunity and could be prosecuted like any other suspected criminal.

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