A new Republican congressman has said she is trying to oust all 147 of her GOP colleagues, who are in favor of the objections to President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory, hours after an angry crowd of President Donald Trump’s supporters called the U.S. Capitol stormed, to support, may support.
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who was sworn in along with other members of the House on Jan. 3, made the remarks Monday during an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Mace insisted she would “look at all the options on the table” to punish a large number of her GOP colleagues who support the efforts to overthrow the will of the voters and put them under censorship has.
“We had a constitutional crisis on Wednesday,” Mace said. “I’m barely a week into work and I’m looking at all the options that’s on the table. Censorship needs to be on the table. We need to hold ourselves accountable, we need to keep ourselves to a higher standard. I’m extremely disappointed with some members of my own party about their behavior and about their words. ‘
“There must be reconciliation and reckoning within our own party,” she added. “If we do not hold ourselves accountable, especially not to those who are guilty of it or make it possible, we can never trust the American people again.”
Mace expressed a desire to ‘be part of the solution and not part of the problem’ of partisan division. While she may have supported censorship of Congress and proposed condemning the president himself, she also spoke out against a second Trump accusation about concerns it could cause further divisions. The House plans to vote later this week on the accusation of Trump for allegedly inciting the riot.
Michael Ciaglo / Getty
The congresswoman said Americans who believed Trump’s allegations of massive voter fraud ‘followed these lies because they felt their voice was not being heard’, adding ‘that is why the president has succeeded so successfully in making them flee ‘with his’ lies and dishonesty towards the American people. ‘
Even after the rioters broke into the building, Trump went on to claim without proof that the election was ‘stolen’ on Twitter, which led to the platform suspending his account and later banning it.
Mace lamented that “every performance” the Republicans have had over the past four years has been “wiped out” by the pro-Trump uprising, saying that the party must “start over” as a result.
On a personal note, Mace described the shelter in her office along with staff when the rioters broke into the building as one of the most “disturbing” experiences in her life. Five people died as a result of the riot, with many more injured. Congressmen avoided direct confrontations with the mob.
“I risked my life for a vote on Wednesday that had to be ceremonial,” Mace said. “I was a seated duck, my staff was a seated duck while we were locked in our offices. Our offices were locked. Shades were drawn, the lights were off and we were quiet. All we know, and all we know “We knew there were pipe bombs out there, we knew there was a cooler full of Molotov cocktails. It was one of the most disturbing and frightening experiences.”
Mace is not alone in holding accountable those who persisted in making discredited allegations of electoral fraud even after the riots, although Democrats have proposed significantly more forceful measures.
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Also a first-year member of the House, has tabled a resolution that would expel any member of Congress who would try to overthrow the election results due to the provision of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which those who had an uprising or rebellion to serve.