Gov. Chris Sununu is criticizing President Trump's role in the storming of the Capitol last week, but he stopped short of calling for Trump's impeachment, saying the focus needs to be on ensuring an orderly transition of power.
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In a statement, Sununu said "President Trump's rhetoric and actions contributed to the insurrection at the United States Capitol Building."
Sununu also said that what he called the "domestic terrorists" who participated in the attack should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The governor declined, however to call for Trump's impeachment, noting that "President-Elect Biden has said impeachment is a matter for Congress to weigh, and I agree."
Sununu, who supported Trump’s re-election bid, has pushed back on Trump’s repeated false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Several other Republican governors, including Phil Scott of Vermont, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, and Larry Hogan of Maryland, have called for Trump’s immediate removal from office.
Meanwhile, state Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, in a series of social media posts, criticized tech companies for banning Parler, a social network popular with conservatives, and Twitter, itself for banning Trump over the weekend.
In a statement, Edelbut acknowledged that "private companies are free to do as they wish within the law," but also argued that “the antidote to bad speech is more speech, not less."
Edelblut, a Republican, ran for governor in 2016 and hasn't ruled out doing so again.
