Ronna McDaniel Slams the New York Times for Quoting the RNC Accurately: ‘Baseless Political Propaganda’

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The chair of the Republican National Committee called out the New York Times on Friday after the publication quoted her organization accurately.

Ronna McDaniel expressed her displeasure at the reportage on Twitter, saying, “This story from the New York Times is completely false. It’s not journalism, it’s the worst type of baseless political propaganda.”

The story in question is about the RNC’s effort to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) over their presence on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The censure resolution accused them of “participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

McDaniel herself used the language in a statement. “Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed a line,” she said. “They chose to join Nancy Pelosi in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.”

The resolution passed overwhelmingly. Cheney denounced it, declaring, “This is not ‘legitimate political discourse.'”

The resolution’s text does not distinguish between those who violently stormed the Capitol and mere protestors who did not. It simply accuses Cheney, Kinzinger, and the rest of the committee of targeting purveyors of “legitimate political discourse.”

Indeed, as the Times reported,

After the vote, party leaders rushed to clarify that language, saying it was never meant to apply to rioters who violently stormed the Capitol in Mr. Trump’s name.

“Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed a line,” Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, said in a statement. “They chose to join Nancy Pelosi in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.”

But the censure, which was carefully negotiated in private among party members, made no such distinction. It was the latest and most forceful effort by the Republican Party to minimize what happened and the broader attempt by Mr. Trump and his allies to invalidate the results of the 2020 election.

McDaniel did not name any “ordinary citizens” that Jan. 6 committee is allegedly persecuting, but she was very upset about the Times’ framing of the resolution – namely, that it accurately quoted it. She called on the paper to “correct this story now.”

As of press time, the Times had issued no such correction.