Journalists and pundits shocked by McConnell's break with RNC over Jan. 6: 'Pigs just flew'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) just stood up for newly censured GOP Reps. (and Jan. 6 committee members) Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) and Liz Cheney (Wyo.) — and journalists and pundits on Twitter can barely believe what they're seeing.

While speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday, McConnell broke from the language used by the Republican National Committee last week and described the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as a "violent insurrection," The Washington Post reports. During the Friday vote to formally censure Kinzinger and Cheney, the RNC called the committee investigating the insurrection "a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.