“Oh my, what a disappointment you are to us and to God!” they wrote to the Illinois Republican, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the paper, rebuking his “horrible, rude accusations of President Trump.”
“I did it knowing full well it could very well be terminal to my career,” Kinzinger said of his vote at the time. “But I also knew that I couldn’t live with myself having, you know, try to just protect it and just felt like the one time I was called to do a really tough duty, I didn’t do it.”
CNN has not verified the authenticity of the letter, and has reached out to Kinzinger’s office for comment.
Kiniznger told the Times that the family members who signed the letter are experiencing “brainwashing” from conservative churches that have misled them.
“I hold nothing against them,” he told the paper, “but I have zero desire or feel the need to reach out and repair that. That is 100% on them to reach out and repair, and quite honestly, I don’t care if they do or not.”
Karen Otto, Kinzinger’s cousin, wrote the letter and mailed it to Kinzinger’s father — to ensure that the congressman would see it — and to other Republicans across the state, the Times reported.
“I wanted Adam to be shunned,” she told the Times.
Kinzinger is from a large family in central Illinois, and his father has 32 first cousins, according to the paper. The congressman has previously referenced such familial backlash over his vote.
CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/15/politics/kinzinger-impeachment-family-letter/index.html
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