Republican lawmakers reprimanded two of their colleagues on Friday, in a prominent escalation of their campaign against opponents considered not to be loyal to former President Donald Trump, while Trump and his former deputy exchanged criticism over the certification of the election results.

Representative Liz Cheney and her colleague Adam Kinzinger are the only Republican members of the special committee investigating last year's Capitol events.

These two deputies are considered opponents of the former president, who continues to maintain his grip on the party despite losing the elections in 2020.

The party's National Committee members - numbering 168 - held their winter meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, and voted - yesterday - Friday - on a resolution to issue an official reprimand to the two representatives, accusing them of behavior "destructive to the US House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic."

The most loyal Trump loyalists have been seeking for months to expel the deputies, especially as the investigation into the January 6, 2021 attack approaches the circle close to Trump.

But with Kenzinger retiring from Congress after the midterm elections in November, and Cheney fearing losing her seat in Wyoming, the party leadership appears to be content with the rebuke and turning the page.

Republicans hope instead to focus on criticizing President Joe Biden, against the backdrop of delayed implementation of his domestic agenda, soaring inflation and an ongoing epidemic, ahead of the midterm elections.

Cheney responded to the news of her reprimand by redoubling her criticism of Trump.

"Republican leaders have held themselves hostage to a man who admits he tried to overturn a presidential election and hints that he will pardon those accused in (the events) of January 6, some of whom have been accused of plotting to sow discord," she said in a statement Thursday.

"I'm constitutionally conservative and I don't recognize those in my party who abandoned the constitution to support Trump. History will judge them," she added.

"I will not stop fighting for our constitutional republic, no matter what," she added.

Pence: President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election result, but he was wrong (Reuters - Archive)

Pence rejects Trump's claim

On the other hand, former US Vice President Mike Pence announced - Friday - that he did not have the right to change the results of the 2020 presidential election, considering that former Republican President Donald Trump was "wrong" in his claim that he was able to do so.

Pence, during a speech in Florida, rejected the allegations of former Republican President Trump, who asserts that Pence, as Vice President at the time, could have prevented the ratification of Joe Biden's victory on January 6, 2021.

Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol that day, obstructed the confirmation process for Biden's victory in the presidential election against Trump, and forced Pence, who was presiding over the Congress session, into hiding.

"President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election, but President Trump is wrong," Pence said Friday, in very assertive remarks.

"I had no right to overturn the election result," he added, stressing that "the presidency belongs to the American people and to the American people alone."

Pence and Trump are potential presidential candidates in the 2024 election, and their public differences are seen as an early maneuver in the race for the Republican nomination.

Trump repeats his allegations that the elections were "stolen" from him and marred by fraud, without providing evidence for this.

And he said in a statement last weekend that Pence "could have upset the outcome of the election."

Pence had previously said he had no right to do so, but his comments on Friday were his strongest yet.