Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger said Sunday that Donald Trump is peddling a 'scam' meant to fuel 'violence' in hi...
Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger said Sunday that Donald Trump is peddling a 'scam' meant to fuel 'violence' in his supporters by claiming Congress could still overturn the election by rejecting the Electoral College results on January 6.
'It is a scam and it is going to disappoint the people that believe this election was stolen, that think this is an opportunity to change it,' he told CNN host Dana Bash.
Trump is pushing for Republican in Congress – specifically senators – to jump on board with a plan to challenge Electoral College votes in five swing states that went blue last month.
The effort is being headed in the House by Alabama Republican Mo Brooks. He needs at least one senator to challenge the results in order to bring the motion up for debate in the joint session next month where Congress will most surely certify the election for Joe Biden.
Kinzinger called the election 'legitimate', claiming there is no proof of widespread voter fraud and suggested there are no channels left for Trump to overturn the results.
'If you convince people that, you know, Congress can change a legitimate election and everything was stolen, there is a deep state theory driving this that Satan runs the government,' the Illinois Republican said. 'You can see people driven to violence so I'm concerned about that.'
Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger said Sunday that Donald Trump is fueling 'violence' is supporters and conspiracy theorists by suggesting Congress can overturn the election in the January 6 joint session
'It is a scam and it is going to disappoint the people that believe this election was stolen, that think this is an opportunity to change it,' he told CNN host Dana Bash
'We talk about the Constitution, and we have to follow it and I'm sorry if that doesn't mean the outcome was what you wanted,' Kinzinger continued.
Kinzinger upped his criticism of the president during an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union' Sunday morning after he railed against Trump's Twitter rant Saturday lamenting a 'fraudulent' election.
'The 'Justice' Department and the FBI have done nothing about the 2020 Presidential Election Voter Fraud, the biggest SCAM in our nation's history, despite overwhelming evidence. They should be ashamed. History will remember. Never give up. See everyone in D.C. on January 6th,' the president wrote in one of his Saturday morning tweets.
Twitter labeled the post as a disputed claim.
An hour later, Kinzinger fired back at Trump, tweeting 'My God. Trying to burn the place down on the way out because you can't handle losing. No evidence, nothing but your temper tantrum and crazy conspiracies. Embarrassing. #RestoreOurGOP'
Kinzinger followed up minutes later: 'All this talk about Jan 6th from @realDonaldTrump and other congressional grifters is simply explained: they will raise money and gain followers by blaming everyone else knowing full well they can't do anything. It's sad, and an utter scam. #restoreourgop'
Kinzinger called out Trump on Twitter Saturday for his election fraud claims, claiming the president is 'embarrassing'
Kinzinger also said 'it's sad, and an utter scam' about the continued election fraud fight
January 6 is a key date for Trump's hopes of overturning the election, as it's the date Congress will count the Electoral College votes.
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence met with a group of House Republicans last week to discuss strategies to contest the Electoral College results when they are certified in a joint session of Congress.
Among those who attended the meeting were Representatives Brooks. Jody Hice of Georgia, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
Hice tweeted afterward: 'The courts refuse to hear the President's legal case. We're going to make sure the People can!'
Kinzinger, 42, has now won six consecutive terms in the House of Representatives, most recently defeating Democrat Dani Brzozowski with 65 percent of the vote in last month's election.
He hasn't always been a staunch critic of the president.
He has echoed Trump's rhetoric about the origin of the coronavirus and publicly supported the airstrike Trump ordered that resulted in the death of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani a year ago, tweeting, 'nice call, @realDonaldTrump.'
According to FiveThirtyEight, Kinzinger has voted in line with Trump 92.2 percent of the time during Trump's presidency, though that number has declined from 99.0 percent in the first two years to 84.3 percent over the last two years.
Donald Trump has refused to concede the election and back down from his fraud claims
But Kinzinger has called out Trump during the election fight, once telling him to delete Twitter
He was even in consideration to be the next Air Force secretary under Trump.
In recent weeks, however, Kinziger has become one of the most vocal Republican critics of the president as Trump has continued disputing the results of the election.
After Trump put out a video statement on December 2, Kinzinger tweeted, 'Time to delete your account.'
He also called out the Texas GOP following their failed attempt to dispute election results with the Supreme Court.
'That's just Adam being Adam. And the president being the president,' Illinois Republican Rodney Davis recently said to Politico. 'If there is one thing Adam doesn't care about, it's being in the line of fire.'
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