Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is facing widespread criticism after she referred to convicted Jan. 6 Capitol rioters as “hostages” and declined to commit to certifying the results of the next election.
Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican Conference, echoed former President Donald Trump during an appearance on “Meet the Press’ when asked if she still believed the Capitol attack was “tragic” as she stated in a speech following the riot.
“I have concerns about the treatment of January 6 hostages,” Stefanik said. “We have a rule in Congress of oversight over our treatments of prisoners. And I believe that we’re seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just President Trump, but we’re seeing it against conservatives.”
Stefanik during the interview also defended voting against certifying the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania, claiming there were “unconstitutional acts circumventing the state legislature and unilaterally changing election law.”
Host Kristen Welker asked Stefanik if she would commit to certifying this year’s presidential results if Trump loses.
“We will see if this is a legal and valid election,” Stefanik said. “What we’re seeing so far is that Democrats are so desperate they’re trying to remove President Trump from the ballot. That is the suppression of the American people. And the Supreme Court is taking that case up in February. That should be a nine to zero to allow President Trump to appear on the ballot because that’s the American people's decision to make this November.”
Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who served as the vice-chair of the House Jan. 6 committee, said Stefanik’s comments echoing Trump’s rhetoric were “outrageous” and “disgusting” and showed that “you can’t count on these elected Republicans to defend the Constitution.”
"If you go and you look at what individuals have been convicted for who are incarcerated, you'll find, you know, extensively these are people who were involved in violence against police officers in the assault on the Capitol," Cheney told CBS News. "And it is really it's disgraceful for Donald Trump to be saying what he's saying. And then for those who are attempting to enable him or attempting to further their own political careers to repeat it. It's a disgrace."
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MSNBC host Alex Witt questioned if Stefanik’s appearance was an audition to be Trump’s running mate.
"Stefanik hit almost all of the MAGA talking points," she said. "Couple questions here: I'm curious, might they be coordinating? Do you think she reaches out and says, 'What kind of verbiage should I use?' Is she auditioning to be Trump's vice president? Can you see her appeal for Trump?"
Former Rep. Dave Jolly, R-Fla., replied that “there is no one in America running harder for Trump’s vice presidential slot than Elise Stefanik.”
"You recognize even how she increases the pace of her words when she was asked to prove her loyalty to Donald Trump,” he said, calling her evolution into a MAGA Republican “disappointing” and “humiliating.”
"I think we should prepare as a country, that if Donald Trump does indeed lose to Joe Biden — the presidential nominee himself — Donald Trump will not accept a defeat. Elise Stefanik and others may not either,” Jolly added.
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Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell during an appearance on MSNBC called Stefanik’s comments “insane” and a “betrayal” of the sacrifices of officers who served on Jan. 6.
"If they really think that those people are hostages, or were political prisoners, then what are we, the police officers?" he asked. "Who are we to them? This is coming from the party of 'law and order' in quotation marks. I cannot believe those policies anymore because they do not believe that."
Former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham in an appearance on CNN questioned what Republicans would say if the script was “flipped.”
“What if Biden encouraged people — which I am not saying he should do — I want to be very clear — what if Biden encouraged people to go to Mar-a-Lago or to Republican congressional offices and they broke windows and broke into Mar-a-Lago and took things and stole things and had people scared for their lives?" she asked. "I wonder if the former president would be calling those people, you know, hostages after they were convicted in a court of law, as they should be if that were something that happened?"
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