Republican MP Elise Stefanik will be expelled from the Harvard Institute of Politics.
The school announced on Tuesday that the four-term congressman from upstate New York and a strong supporter of President Trump had been removed from its Senior Advisory Committee following last week’s attack on the US Capitol due to its “public statements” on electoral fraud in the November presidency election that has no evidence base. “
PRESIDENT, IN FIRST APPEARANCE SINCE THE TRUMP SUPPORTERS HAVE ATTACKED THE CAPITOL, SAYS ‘WE DO NOT WANT VIOLENCE’
“She made public statements about the election-related lawsuits that are incorrect,” added Dean Kennedy Elmendorf of Harvard Kennedy School in a letter. “Furthermore, these statements and statements do not reflect political divergences, but are related to the foundations of the electoral process through which the leaders of this country are chosen.”
In this image from the video, Rep. Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., speaks as the House meets to debate the objection to confirm the Arizona Electoral College vote after protesters invaded the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. (House Television via AP)
Stefanik joined some 150 fellow Republicans in the House in support of Trump’s unsuccessful attempt to reverse his defeat in the presidential election at the hands of President-elect Joe Biden. His votes came after the Capitol was taken, hours earlier on Wednesday, by supporters of the president who were encouraged by Trump to march on the Capitol and show strength as they protested Congress’s certification of the election.
Elmendorf said in his letter that the school originally asked Stefanik to resign from the committee, and when she refused, “I told her that I would therefore remove her from the IOP Senior Advisory Committee at this time.”
TRUMP RECOGNIZES SOME RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CAPITOL STORM
In reply, the congresswoman called her removal by Harvard University as “a rite of passage and a badge of honor”.
“The Harvard administration’s decision to shrink and give in to the left awake will continue to erode the diversity of thinking,” tweeted Stefanik. “The Ivory Tower’s march towards a monoculture of intolerant and like-minded liberal views demonstrates contemptuous contempt for ordinary Americans and will instill a culture of fear in students.”
Stefanik has resisted calls since last week’s Capitol insurrection to resign.
The congresswoman, who kept her distance from Trump during the 2016 election, in recent years has become one of her biggest advocates in the House and spoke at last summer’s Republican National Convention. She was considered a rising star in the GOP.
STEFANIK – AT THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION – IMPEACHMENT OF SLAMS TRUMP
Stefanki also graduated from Harvard in 2006.
Elmendorf highlighted “his important contributions to the crucial mission of the Policy Institute over a long period, starting with his role as a student leader (she was in the class of 2006) and continuing with his student orientation and strengthening IOP programming in many ways . I know we are grateful for your long and committed service. “
The Harvard Policy Institute has faced criticism, controversy and a lot of national media attention in recent years for inviting Trump’s political adviser, Corey Lewandowski, and Sean Spicer, the president’s first White House press secretary, as fellows.