Adam Kinzinger reveals letter ‘brainwashed’ Trump-loving relatives sent him after he voted for impeachment

Six-term Illinois Republican says ‘quite honestly, I don’t care if they do or not’ reach out after disavowing him for impeaching former president

A Republican congressman who broke with Trump and was censured by his own party has shared a letter sent by relatives who he says were “brainwashed”, after they called him a “disappointment”.

Adam Kinzinger, who voted along with 10 other Republicans to impeach the former president on 13 January, was sent the letter by relatives after he broke ranks to condemn the events of 6 January, when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.

His family reportedly said in the letter two days later that Mr Kinzinger was “a disappointment” to them “and to God!”, and that his remarks about Mr Trump “have embarrassed the Kinzinger family name”.

Speaking in an interview published on Monday – and after his Republican colleagues in the Senate voted to acquit the former president on Saturday – the six-term Illinois Republican said the letter showed that his relatives had been “brainwashed” when it came to politics.

Mr Kinzinger told The New York Times that they were led astray by conservative churches who were hammering home a pro-Trump party line.

Mr Kinzinger’s family told him that his actions went against “Christian principles” and Mr Trump because he had supported Democrats – or the “Devil’s army” – in condemning the attack on the Capitol.

“How can you call yourself a Christian when you joined the ‘Devil’s Army’ believing in abortion,” the relatives added. “President Trump is not perfect, but neither are you or any of us for that matter! It is not for me to judge or be judged! But he [Mr Trump] is a Christian!”

Mr Kinzinger told the Times: : “I hold nothing against them, but I have zero desire or feel the need to reach out and repair that. That is 100 percent on them to reach out and repair, and quite honestly, I don’t care if they do or not.”

He went on to say that the Republican party would be troubled if it did not effectively respond to the former president and his allies who have continued to push false conspiracies, and that the party needed to provide an optimistic alternative for voters.

“We just fear. Fear the Democrats. Fear the future. Fear everything,” he said in the interview. “And it works for an election cycle or two. The problem is it does real damage to this democracy.”

“We have a lot of work to do to restore the Republican Party, and to turn the tide on the personality politics,” Mr Kinzinger, who was censured by the Illinois Republican Party for voting to impeach the president, added.