But Sasse is standing his ground. In the video released Thursday, he blamed Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that left a police officer and four others dead.
“Now, many of you are hacked off that I condemned his lies that led to a riot. Let’s be clear: the anger in the state party has never been about me violating principle or abandoning conservative policy. I’m one of the most conservative voters in the senate. The anger has always simply been about me not bending the knee to one guy,” Sasse said, looking directly at the camera to address state party officials.
Nebraska US Sen Sasse pushes back against GOP activists sfgate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sfgate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BY Associated Press / Scott Miller | February 5, 2021
Courtesy photo Sen. Ben Sasse.
U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska is pushing back against some fellow Republicans who want the state party to formally censure him for his outspoken criticism of President Donald Trump after the U.S. Capitol riot.
Sasse on Thursday posted a YouTube video response to county GOP organizations who are pushing to censure him a second time after he said Trump deserved some blame for inciting the incident.
The Scotts Bluff County GOP is among those who have criticized Sasse, saying in a recent open letter signed by county party Chair Kolene Woodward that his support for “such a mock judicial proceeding reminiscent of Joseph Stalin is reprehensible,” and his actions are “a selfish, political ploy.”
AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool
Local Republican Parties are cracking down on Washington politicians who have refused to support Donald Trump in his impeachment fight. The LaSalle County, Ill., GOP voted overwhelmingly to censure Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for his vote to impeach the former president. And the Nebraska Republican Party is set to censure Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) whose anti-Trump statements are prominently covered in the mainstream media.
In Kinzinger’s case, Trump carried his district by 16 points in 2020 so it’s no surprise that 88 percent of the La Salle County Republican Central Committee voted to censure the congressman. Trump carried Sasse’s state, Nebraska, by nearly 20 points. But other congressmen who voted for Trump’s impeachment are also facing party discipline as the GOP purge of anti-Trump members continues.
Facing potential censure by Nebraska’s Republican Party, Sen. Ben Sasse is fighting back.
The conservative senator and vocal critic of former President Trump – who was overwhelmingly reelected in November to a second term in the Senate – charges that the moves by the Nebraska GOP are because he refuses to bend the knee and worship Trump, who remains very popular and influential with Republican voters.
Sasse, who’s been censured by the state party in the past for not supporting Trump, is facing disciplinary action again for attacking Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn his defeat in the presidential election at the hands of Joe Biden. They are also targeting him for decrying Trump’s encouragement of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by right wing extremists and other Trump supporters who attempted to derail the congressional certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, were killed during the insurr