Trump calls for North Dakota’s Kelly Armstrong to ‘immediately be primaried’

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has called for 20 U.S. House Republicans, including North Dakota’s Rep. Kelly Armstrong, to “immediately be primaried” after they voted against a censure resolution aimed at one of the former president’s political adversaries.

The U.S. House voted down a statement of disapproval for Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, regarding his tenure as the chair of the House Intelligence Committee from 2019 through 2023. That was when he headed Congressional investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, proposed the censure that called for the House Ethics Committee to investigate Schiff. If it found Schiff “lied, made misrepresentations and abused sensitive information,” it could have fined him $16 million.

The House voted on Wednesday, June 14, to kill the resolution 225-196. Republicans control the House by 10 votes, but 20 GOP members joined 205 Democrats in opposing the resolution.

Two Republicans voted “present” while four others didn’t cast ballots. Five Democrats also voted “present,” while two didn’t vote at all.

Armstrong was among the 20 Republicans who voted against the resolution. In a Thursday tweet, the North Dakota Republican called the censure resolution unconstitutional. Censuring Schiff then investigating him would be like “convicting someone and then sending them to court for the trial,” Armstrong said in the tweet.

“If there’s anybody who thinks Adam Schiff probably needs to be censured, I’m one of them,” Armstrong said during a

podcast with Rob Port,

a Forum columnist and founder of Say Anything Blog. “But I am not voting for one member of Congress and a privileged resolution to bring a $16 million fine on another member of Congress.”

The fine would have happened without due process, and the resolution would violate several Constitutional amendments, Armstrong told Port. Armstrong acknowledged Schiff has leaked documents to the press to drive a narrative, noting he voted to remove him from the House Intelligence Committee.

The Republicans who voted against the censure have been criticized for their vote, including by Trump. The former Republican president took to his own social media platform called Truth to praise Luna, calling her a star.

“She never gives up, especially in holding total lowlifes like Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff responsible for their lies, deceit, deception, and actually putting our Country at great risk, for which he should be imprisoned!” Trump wrote. “He is a Leaker and a Scoundrel. Any Republican voting against his CENSURE, or worse, should immediately be primaried. There are plenty of great candidates out there!”

Armstrong’s office said he plans to vote for the censure without the fine, a revision that the House could take up as soon as Wednesday afternoon.

Trump isn’t the only one to ask for another candidate to challenge Armstrong. Sandi Sanford, who was recently elected chair of the North Dakota Republican Party, said Armstrong should be challenged in the next election for codifying same-sex marriage in federal law.

Armstrong said he does not regret that vote, calling it the right thing to do.

Armstrong went unchallenged in the 2022 primary election. With 62% of the vote in the general election, he defeated Independent and former Miss America Cara Mund, heavily securing his third election.

In each election, he has received at least 56% of the vote.

April Baumgarten joined The Forum in February 2019 as an investigative reporter. She grew up on a ranch 10 miles southeast of Belfield, N.D., where her family raises Hereford cattle. She double majored in communications and history/political science at the University of Jamestown, N.D.