Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, the Illinois Republican who broke with his party two years ago after the siege of the U.S. Capitol, has a book deal. The Open Field, a Penguin Random House imprint overseen by Maria Shriver, announced Tuesday that Kinzinger’s “Renegade: My Life in Faith, the Military, and Defending America from Trump’s Attack on Democracy” is scheduled for release Oct. 17. “Ever since my final falling-out with the GOP, on the day of the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol by [former President] Donald Trump’s followers, I have wanted to tell the inside story of how my party and also my faith have been hijacked by extremists who represent a real danger to our democracy,” Kinzinger, 44, said. “This book is the result, a full telling of my experience from a pilgrim with genuine values to a conservative who has no home but is determined to play a role in our recovery from a devastating political war,” he said. Kinzinger, an Iraq War veteran elected to Congress in 2010, became a leading GOP critic of Trump and his colleagues. He denounced Trump for inciting “an angry mob” with claims that the 2020 election was stolen and voted to impeach him. He was later one of two Republicans, along with Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who joined the House committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack. Last fall, he announced he would not seek re-election after the Democratic-controlled Illinois Legislature approved new congressional maps that would have forced him and a Republican incumbent into a primary matchup.
■ CNN anchor Don Lemon will return to work today and will receive “formal training” in the aftermath of his comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, network Chief Executive Officer Chris Licht said in an email to employees Monday night. The memo did not specify what the training would entail. Licht added that it was important that the network “balances accountability with … fostering a culture in which people can own, learn and grow from their mistakes.” Lemon has not been on the air since Thursday, when he said the 51-year-old Haley was not “in her prime” during the broadcast of “CNN This Morning.” Lemon and fellow hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins had been discussing Haley’s suggestion that politicians older than 75 should be subject to mental competency tests. “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Lemon said, explaining why he was “uncomfortable” with the age discussion. He was challenged by Harlow, who tried to clarify his remark: “I think we need to qualify. Are you talking about prime for childbearing or are you talking about prime for being president?” “Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just saying what the facts are,” Lemon, 56, responded. He brought up the subject again an hour later, and was rebutted by commentator Audie Cornish. “She’s in her prime for running for office,” Cornish said of Haley. “Political prime is what we’re talking about.”