U.S. Rep. Tom Reed. AP photo

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed said he supports Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell in condemning the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

Four days after the Republican National Committee voted to censure House members Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for participating in the Jan. 6 investigation, McConnell said the party organization should not be “picking and choosing” among candidates. “We support all members of our party, regardless of their positions on some issues,” he said.

During a media conference Wednesday, Reed was asked by the OBSERVER and The Post-Journal about McConnell’s words.

“The RNC especially in the language they drafted in regards to trying to characterize, in my opinion, the Jan. 6 situation as a political type of situation that needed to be chastised,” Reed said.

In the resolution, the RNC assailed the Jan. 6 panel for leading a “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

Reed did admit he doesn’t like the makeup of the current Jan. 6 panel, saying he prefers a more bipartisan Sept. 11-type committee. But he looks forward to what the current committee determines.

“I support getting to the bottom of those that engaged in January 6th situation, and they be held fully accountable,” he said. “Any description by a Republican party that says that this was some type of political honest discourse and should not be sanctioned and justice should not be held is something that I’m going to adamantly disagree with.”

Reed also applauded Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to lift the mask mandate in the state.

“I take this as a positive sign for the governor to make this decision and join with us in regards to recognizing that we’re going to have to live with the virus,” he said.

Reed said, realistically, he expected future COVID surges. He wants to see all levels of government have policies in place to address them.

“Hopefully this is a recognition by the governor based on data that the mask mandate should go away and I support that,” he said.