Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an active member of the Illinois Air National Guard, vowed on Thursday that he would do everything in his power to prevent Donald Trump from returning to the Oval Office if he once again wins the Republican party’s presidential nomination.
“’If Donald Trump gets the Republican nomination, there are many of us that will move heaven and earth to ensure he doesn’t win. I think that’s the most important thing. He can not be President again. – @AdamKinzinger to me just now,” CNN Anchor Jim Sciutto tweeted.
Kinzinger has been a vocal critic of the former president over the past year.
Kinzinger was one of two Republicans selected to work with seven Democrat lawmakers on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. The committee’s role is to investigate the January incident in which protestors and rioters entered the building and disrupted a joint congressional hearing to certify the November 2020 election results for Joe Biden. The incident came on the same day Trump held a rally in Washington D.C., where he called the election results into question.
Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the Republican Party’s picks for five members to serve on the Jan. 6 committee. USA Today reported those Republican picks included Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, North Dakota Rep. Kelly Armstrong and Texas Rep. Troy Nehls.
Earlier this week, Kinzinger also rejected an offer to appear on conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s program, claiming Carlson was “spewing” of “Russian propaganda.” Kinzinger had earlier criticized Carlson for discussing U.S.-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine.
“I got an invitation to do Tucker Carlson’s show tonight and there’s no way I’ll go on his show for a number of reasons,” Kinzinger said in a video tweet. “But first, let me state that his insistence that the west was provoking war with Putin, his spreading lies about biolabs, and his continued spewing of conspiracy theories are nothing but complete evil. His show is full of Russian propaganda and not news. And I will not validate his show by making an appearance.”
Several U.S. fact-checking resources have issued warnings about dubious claims of U.S.-run bioweapons facilities in Ukraine. While fact-checkers have said the U.S. isn’t directly operating facilities producing biological weapons in Ukraine, U.S. Department of Defense has detailed programs funding several Ukrainian laboratories and efforts to detect biological threats, store dangerous pathogens and dispose of Soviet-era biological weapons and materials left behind in Ukraine. The DoD has also said there’s a “real concern” about Russian attacks in Ukraine causing an accidental release of dangerous pathogens.
On Tuesday, Carlson defended against criticisms he was repeating Russian propaganda claims of the U.S. creating biological weapons.
“We never alleged the United States was making bioweapons, we don’t know that,” Carlson said. “What we said is what’s factually true, which is there are stores — we learned this from the U.S. government, of Soviet-era bioweapons in Ukraine that, for some reason, have not yet been destroyed. That’s a huge problem potentially.”
