Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC), one of the 10 House Republicans who impeached ex-President Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, put out a scathing statement on Saturday after the former president bashed him during a South Carolina rally for Rice’s primary challenger.
“Trump is here because, like no one else I’ve ever met, he is consumed by spite,” Rice retorted in the statement shortly after Trump-endorsed Russell Fry’s rally on Saturday. “I took one vote he didn’t like and now he’s chosen to support a yes man candidate who has and will bow to anything he says, no matter what.”
“If you want a Congressman who supports political violence in Ukraine or in the United States Capitol, who supports party over country, who supports a would-be tyrant over the Constitution, and who makes decisions based solely on re-election, then Russell Fry is your candidate,” the GOP lawmaker continued.
Trump had called Rice a “total fool” over his impeachment vote and mocked how the South Carolina Republican Party had voted to censure the congressman after the impeachment.
“He’s respected by no one, he’s laughed at in Washington, he was never thought highly of in Washington,” the former president ranted on Saturday.
Rice, like six of the other House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year, is running for reelection in the face of revenge-hungry Trump’s efforts to get him kicked out of office in the upcoming midterms.
Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) hasn’t officially announced a reelection bid, but the Washington Post notes that the Michigan Republican’s been fundraising and putting out ads touting his achievements, suggesting that he hasn’t necessarily been scared off from staying in Congress.
Reps. John Katko (R-NY) and Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) are retiring, and so is Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), the only other Republican besides Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on the House Jan. 6 Committee.
