Kinzinger Warns: 'There Is Violence in the Future'

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol, fears that violence instigated by his own party is on the horizon, and he says he's already been threatened himself. The Illinois congressman sat down Sunday with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week and revealed he'd recently received an ominous message mailed to his home, and that it was mailed locally. "We got it a couple [of] days ago, and it threatens to execute me, as well as my wife, and 5-month-old child," he said on the show. "I've never seen or had anything like that."

Kinzinger noted that "I'm not worried personally," though he conceded "now that I have a wife and kids, of course, it's a little different." A spokesperson for his office tells Insider that Kinzinger has called in the threat and "extra precautions" are now being taken for him and his family. What the congressman is concerned about is how political prevarications being pushed by those who support former President Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was rigged might continue to lead to other worrisome events. "There's violence in the future, I'm gonna tell you," Kinzinger said. "And until we get a grip on telling people the truth, we can't expect any differently." He added: "Unfortunately, my party has utterly failed the American people at truth."

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who's also on the Jan. 6 panel, appeared Sunday on CNN's State of the Union and similarly spoke to such falsehoods, noting how Trump "pressed on" with 2020 election lies, even after he was told it was a bad idea, and "uprooted people's lives, put their lives and our democracy very much at risk," per the Washington Post. Schiff also noted the Jan. 6 panel wants to talk to Ginni Thomas, wife of US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, about her role in trying to overturn the 2020 election. "We have a range of questions to ask her," Schiff said. "Obviously, I think the committee will be interested, among other things, whether this was discussed with Justice Thomas, given that he was ruling on cases impacting whether we would get some of this information." Ginni Thomas, for her part, said last week she "can't wait" to talk to the committee and "clear up misconceptions." (More Rep. Adam Kinzinger stories.)