White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday said the White House rejects the notion declared by the Republican National Committee (RNC) that the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol was "legitimate political discourse."

“I think it clear to Americans that what happened on Jan. 6 was not ‘legitimate political discourse.’ Storming the Capitol and an attempt to halt the peaceful transition of power is not legitimate political discourse, neither is attacking and injuring over 140 police officers, smashing windows and defiling offices,” Psaki told reporters. 

The RNC has sparked backlash for describing Jan. 6 as “legitimate political discourse” in a resolution censuring Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Friday for being the two Republicans who sit on the House panel investigating the matter.

“We certainly reject the notion that that was legitimate political discourse as we think a … large number of Americans would as well,” she said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday broke with the RNC and called Jan. 6, when a mob of former President Trump's followers breached the building, a “violent insurrection.”

Psaki noted that some Republicans and former officials in the Trump administration also have rejected that characterization, which she called "telling."

“It’s telling to all of us that some leading Republicans have rejected that characterization, including the former president’s national security adviser and the chief of staff to the former vice president, who as he put it, had a front row seat that day including as rioters chanted for the former vice president to be hanged,” she said. 

Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster on Sunday said Jan. 6 amounted to “illegitimate political discourse” and Marc Short, former chief of staff to ex-Vice President Mike Pence, said on Sunday that he “did not see a lot of legitimate political discourse.” 

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has since appeared to try to clarify the statement, saying in a statement that Kinzinger and Cheney were involved in persecuting citizens “engaged in legitimate political discourse,” but “that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.”