Consultant Tom Rice, a South Carolina Republican, stated Donald Trump is "consumed by spite" after the previous president attacked him throughout a Saturday rally on the Florence Regional Airport.
Rice was among the many 10 Home Republicans who voted to question Trump for inciting his supporters to assault the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Trump has repeatedly condemned the congressman and has endorsed his Republican main challenger South Carolina state Consultant Russell Fry.
Throughout his rally, which drew 1000's of supporters regardless of poor climate, the previous president described Rice as a "complete idiot" and a "catastrophe," including, that he's "revered by nobody, he is laughed at in Washington, he was by no means thought extremely of in Washington."
Shortly after Trump issued the assault, Rice put out his personal assertion in response:
"Trump is right here as a result of, like nobody else I've ever met, he's consumed by spite," the Republican congressman stated within the assertion, which was reported by Florence's CBS-affiliate native WBTW Information 13. "I took one vote he did not like and now he is chosen to help a sure man candidate who has and can bow to something he says, it doesn't matter what."
"If you would like a Congressman who helps political violence in Ukraine or in america Capitol, who helps social gathering over nation, who helps a would-be tyrant over the Structure, and who makes selections based mostly solely on reelection, then Russell Fry is your candidate," Rice continued. "If you would like a Congressman who cowers to no man, who votes for what is true, even when it is exhausting, and who has fought like hell for the Grand Strand and Pee Dee, then I hope to earn your vote."
The South Carolina lawmaker voted in favor of Trump-backed insurance policies and payments about 94 % of the time, in accordance with a FiveThirtyEight evaluation. Notably, Rice even voted in favor of objecting to the Electoral School votes of Arizona and Pennsylvania—a part of the previous president's efforts to unconstitutionally overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
Consultant Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who voted to question Trump, praised Rice in a Sunday morning Twitter submit.
"Our nation wants Republicans to be sane, accountable, and converse the reality. @RepTomRice is true. Most of our Republican colleagues know this. Their silence allows the hazard," she tweeted. Like Rice, the Wyoming lawmaker is going through a Trump-endorsed opponent.
Trump additionally attacked South Carolina's GOP Consultant Nancy Mace. Though she declined to vote in favor of Trump's impeachment, she condemned his actions on January 6, 2021, and beforehand stated that she and different Republicans could have voted in favor of the previous president's impeachment if a extra thorough investigation had been performed earlier than the vote.
Trump mocked Mace on Saturday, mentioning that the congresswoman had created a video of herself talking in entrance of Trump Tower in New York Metropolis regardless of his opposition to her reelection.
"She went to New York and stood in entrance of the magnificent Trump Tower—has anybody ever heard of Trump Tower—and did a industrial insinuating that I used to be endorsing her," the previous president stated. "I am saying 'are you able to consider this?' It was untruthful similar to the whole lot else she does."
In late February, Mace stated she was "gonna win with out him," referencing Trump in an interview with The State, and added that she goes to "spend each dime" and "break each file" in an effort to obtain that objective.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's press workplace and to Mace's press secretary for additional remark, however didn't instantly obtain a response.