Kinzinger: Execution threats over Jan. 6 panel show ‘depravity of what’s existing out there’

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said the “constant” death threats he’s received over the course of the Jan. 6 House panel’s hearings reveal the “depravity of what’s existing out there.”

Kinzinger told host Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s “Situation Room” that threats against him have only increased as the House committee prepares for its fifth hearing on Thursday about the events leading up to a pro-Trump mob storming the U.S. Capitol last year.

“I even heard a voicemail just this morning that we got last night threatening execution. That kind of seems to be the normal thing nowadays is just threaten execution,” the congressman said.

Kinzinger shared a letter on Sunday in which an irate person threatened to execute him and his family, including his 5-month-old son.

“It was important to put out to show the depravity of what’s existing out there, the fact that there are people that literally would come up with this idea of killing a 5-month-old because you disagree with me being on the Jan. 6 committee,” he told Blitzer on Wednesday.

“But what that shows is, when you stir up evil, when you bring in light to a dark place, you see cockroaches get angry and scatter,” he added.

Kinzinger said he has beefed up security in light of the threats. The congressman, who is not running for reelection, was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump after the rioti on Jan. 6, 2021.

Doing so earned him Trump’s ire.

The hearings so far have focused on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which the former president continues to claim without evidence was stolen.

The House panel has revealed how Trump pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the election and created a pressure campaign against state election officials to appoint electors in his favor.

Kinzinger said Thursday’s hearing will focus on how Trump pushed the Department of Justice to “stamp on his lies and conspiracies to embolden people.”

The GOP congressman encouraged Americans to tune in, saying the hearings were not about attacking people or their points of view.

 “This is an American investigation to put out the facts,” he told Blitzer. “If there’s anything partisan about it, it’s that all the witnesses have been Republicans, mostly appointed by Donald Trump.”