CNN host John Berman on Tuesday accused the president of the North Carolina Republican Party of overthrowing the senator. Richard Burr
Richard Mauze Burr: North Carolina Republican Party Votes to Censor Burr to Vote to Condemn Trump Maine, GOP would consider censoring Collins to vote to condemn Republican Trump Iowa announces bid in Senate with Grassley plans for 2022 is still unclear MORE (RN.C.) for his vote to condemn the ex President Trump
Donald Trump, Michigan Democrat Dingell, on violent rhetoric: “I’ve had men in front of my house with assault weapons.” McConnell doesn’t rule out getting involved in Republican primaries. 75% of Republicans want Trump to play a prominent role in the GOP: MORE poll for having incited a crowd to attack the Capitol.
“We hear a lot from the Republican Party about the cancellation of culture,” Berman told North Carolina Republican President Michael Whatley during an interview Tuesday in New Day. “You know, you’re canceling Richard Burr for his dismissal vote, which he said was a conscious vote.”
The Republican Party of the state of North Carolina has censored Burr for his vote. Burr was one of seven Republicans in the Senate who voted to condemn Trump.
Whatley rejected Berman’s claim, saying the “culture of cancellation” that conservatives often deny in relation to the perception censored by Trump and other controversial Republican ideologies is “completely different” from the party’s decision to censor Burr. .
Do you want to cancel the culture? CNN @JohnBerman to NC GOP President Michael Whatley over the party’s censorship of Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) for his vote to condemn Trump:
“You are canceling it because of this vote.” pic.twitter.com/dxdvaOu2ky
– The count (@therecount) February 16, 2021
Burr will retire at the end of this election cycle.
His vote to condemn Trump was a bit of a surprise as he had voted twice with other Republicans to find the former president’s impeachment trial unconstitutional.
Burr said he believed the Senate in voting unconstitutional had set a precedent for the trial and that the evidence presented strongly defended Trump’s conviction.
“The evidence is compelling that President Trump is guilty of inciting insurrection against an egalitarian branch of government and that the prosecution rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors,” Burr said of his vote.
The state Republican party voted hours later to censor Burr, issuing a formal condemnation of his decision.
“Tonight, the Central Committee of the Republican Party of North Carolina (NCGOP) voted unanimously to censor Sen. Richard Burr for his vote to condemn former President Trump in the impeachment process he declared unconstitutional,” he said.
Burr called the vote a “sad day for North Carolina Republicans.”
In the CNN interview, Berman told Whatley, “He’s canceling it because of this vote.”
“We don’t cancel anything,” Whatley replied. “We’re saying we disagree with a particular vote.”
Several other state Republican parties have voted to censor other Republican senators who voted with Democrats and against Trump.
The former president narrowly won the state of Tar Heel in the 2020 elections and the other Republican senator in the state, Thom Tillis, was re-elected. Tillis voted to acquit Trump.