南卡罗莱纳州的汤姆·赖斯是10个众议院共和党人之一谁投票支持弹劾前总统唐纳德·特朗普煽动1月6日袭击美国国会大厦。

现在，随着赖斯在特朗普国家的中心为自己的政治生活进行艰苦的斗争，他坚持这一选择——在周日播出的美国广播公司新闻首席华盛顿记者乔纳森·卡尔的采访中称之为“保守派的投票”。

“我当时做到了。明天我还会这么做，”赖斯说。

赖斯表示，川普应该受到弹劾，因为他可能危及前副总统迈克·彭斯及其家人在国会大厦的安全，并且没有更快地采取行动来制止去年发生的致命骚乱。

赖斯回忆说:“当他看到国会大厦，即‘人民之家’被洗劫一空，当他看到国会大厦的警察被殴打了三四个小时，却没有拿起一件东西或阻止它时，我当时很愤怒，今天我也很愤怒。”。“我很清楚，我宣誓要保护宪法。”

特朗普发誓要报复赖斯，支持他的六个主要对手之一，并于3月在他的选区举行集会。

“就在这里，在第七区，汤姆·赖斯，一场灾难，”特朗普对嘘声说。"他没有得到任何人的尊重，他在华盛顿被嘲笑。"

赖斯是一名温和的会计师和税务律师，他帮助特朗普起草了2017年共和党税法，并签署成为法律。赖斯表示，他在国会以压倒性多数投票支持特朗普的议程。

“如果我是一个‘灾难’，一个‘彻头彻尾的傻瓜’，而我在184次投票中有169次投了他的票，那他会变成什么样?”他对卡尔说。"我是在追随他的脚步。"

“他是一个自恋者，他受关注和报复的驱使，”赖斯谈到特朗普时说。

他还警告他的政党，如果特朗普再次寻求椭圆形办公室，就像特朗普经常暗示的那样，不要团结在前总统周围。

“我认为这会伤害我们，”赖斯说。“我们会更多地被描绘在极端主义的角落，他们会试图给我们贴上极端主义的标签。他会喂它的。”

赖斯批评共和党人，包括加利福尼亚州共和党领袖凯文·麦卡锡，在国会大厦遇袭后的几周内迅速拥抱川普。

他拒绝透露如果共和党在11月赢回众议院，麦卡锡是否应该成为议长。

“我现在不会回答这个问题，”他告诉美国广播公司的卡尔。“我们看看会发生什么。”

众议员汤姆·赖斯采访乔恩·卡尔。

美国广播公司新闻

赖斯称赞了怀俄明州共和党众议员利兹·切尼，她也投票支持弹劾特朗普，现在担任1月6日委员会的副主席，称她是“真正的共和党人”。像赖斯一样，切尼引起了特朗普的愤怒因为批评了他她正在努力应对自己的主要挑战。

“她会是一个伟大的演说家，”赖斯说。"她非常保守，我认为她是一个无所畏惧的领导人。"

但在11月之前，赖斯需要在6月14日捍卫他在国会的席位，届时他将与其他六名候选人竞争共和党提名，其中包括特朗普支持的州众议员拉塞尔·弗莱。

赖斯所在选区的共和党主席杰里·罗夫纳(Jerry Rovner)告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，拥挤的场地使得任何候选人都不太可能赢得超过50%的选票，从而避免本月晚些时候前两名候选人之间的决选。

罗夫纳在初选中正式保持中立，但对赖斯在弹劾问题上的立场持批评态度，他说，鉴于特朗普在该地区的受欢迎程度，赖斯的投票可能是“许多选民的一个主要问题”。

罗夫纳在谈到赖斯时说:“他可以按照他们(希望他)投票的方式投票800次，但他投票的一件事让媒体感到非常不安。”。“这就是真正的原因。”

赖斯的平衡之举在最近南卡罗来纳州默特尔比奇的一个论坛上得到充分展示，在那里，当他为自己的弹劾投票辩护时，一些先前支持他的选民退出了。

“他是一个叛徒，我只是不信任他，”林恩·韦尔告诉美国广播公司新闻。"如果你不能支持你的政党，他也不会支持你或我。"

默特尔海滩的商人比利·泽格利斯(Billy Zevgolis)是一名尚未决定投票的选民，他说他也不同意赖斯的弹劾投票。

“现在，特朗普是我们的人，”他告诉美国广播公司新闻。“我不喜欢他的个性，但他的政治观点完全正确。他的价值观与我的一致。”

赖斯希望他能说服足够多的选民忽略他对特朗普弹劾的立场，即使他们不同意。他还可以从该州的开放式初选中受益，该州允许民主党人和无党派人士在共和党竞选中投票。

他说，即使输了，赖斯“绝对”不后悔。

“你知道，就像你的讣告一样，第一句话将是‘国会共和党议员汤姆·赖斯投票弹劾唐纳德·特朗普’，”卡尔告诉他。

“就这样吧，”他说。“我会把它当徽章戴着。就这样吧。”

GOP Rep. Tom Rice says impeaching Trump was 'the conservative vote'

South Carolina's Tom Rice was one of 10 House Republicanswho voted to impeachformer President Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Now, as Rice fights an uphill battle for his political life in the heart of Trump country, he is standing by that choice -- calling it “the conservative vote” in an interview with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that aired Sunday on "This Week."

“I did it then. And I would do it again tomorrow," Rice said.

Rice said Trump deserved to be impeached for potentially endangering former Vice President Mike Pence and his family at the Capitol and not acting more quickly to stop the deadly riot as it unfolded last year.

“When he watched the Capitol, the ‘People's House,’ being sacked, when he watched the Capitol Police officers being beaten for three or four hours and lifted not one thing or to stop it -- I was livid then and I’m livid today about it,” Rice recalled. “And it was very clear to me I took an oath to protect the Constitution.”

Trump has vowed vengeance against Rice, endorsing one of his six primary opponents and holding a rally in his district in March.

“Right here, in the 7th district, Tom Rice, a disaster,” Trump said to boos. “He’s respected by no one, he’s laughed at in Washington.”

A mild-mannered accountant and tax attorney who helped craft the 2017 Republican tax law Trump signed into law, Rice says he voted overwhelmingly in favor of Trump’s agenda in Congress.

“If I am a ‘disaster,’ and a ‘total fool’ and I voted with him 169 times out of 184, what does that make him?” he said to Karl. “I was following his lead.”

“He's a narcissist, and he’s driven by attention, and he’s driven by revenge,” Rice said of Trump.

He also warned his party against rallying around the former president if Trump seeks the Oval Office again, as Trump has often hinted.

“I think it will hurt us,” Rice said. “We’ll get painted more in the corner of extremism, they'll try to label us as extremist. And he’ll feed that.”

Rice criticized Republicans, including GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, of California, for quickly embracing Trump in the weeks after the Capitol attack.

He declined to say whether McCarthy should be speaker if Republicans win back the House in November.

“I’m not gonna answer that one right now,” he told ABC’s Karl. “We’ll see what happens.”

Rice praised Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who also voted to impeach Trump and now serves as the vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, calling her a “real Republican.” Like Rice, Cheney drew Trump's wrathfor criticizing himand is contending with her own primary challenge.

“She’d be a great speaker,” Rice said. “She is very conservative and I think she’s a fearless leader.”

But before November, Rice needs to defend his seat in Congress on June 14, when he’ll face off against six other candidates -- including Trump-endorsed state Rep. Russell Fry -- for the Republican nomination.

The crowded field makes it unlikely that any of the candidates will win more than 50% of the vote and avoid a runoff later this month between the top two finishers, Jerry Rovner, the Republican party chairman in Rice’s district, told ABC News.

Rovner, who is officially neutral in the primary but critical of Rice's position on impeachment, said Rice's vote could be a “major problem with a lot of constituents” given Trump’s popularity in the area.

“He could vote 800 times the way they [want him to] vote, but the one thing he voted on that got the press, they were very upset about,” Rovner said of Rice. “And that’s really what it comes down to.”

Rice’s balancing act was on full display at a recent forum in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where some voters who had previously supported him walked out when he defended his impeachment vote.

“He’s a traitor, and I just don’t trust him,” Lyne Vail told ABC News. "If you can’t back your party, he’s not going to back you or me.”

Billy Zevgolis, a Myrtle Beach businessman and undecided voter, said he also disagreed with Rice's impeachment vote.

“Right now, Trump is our guy,” he told ABC News. “I don’t like his personality, but his politics are right on the money. His values are aligned with mine.”

Rice hopes he can convince enough voters to overlook his stance on Trump's impeachment even if they don’t agree with it. He could also benefit from the state’s open primaries, which allow Democrats and independents to vote in the GOP race.

Even if he loses, Rice has “absolutely” no regrets, he said.

“You know that, like your obituary, the first sentence is going to be 'Tom Rice, who was a Republican member of Congress, voted to impeach Donald Trump,'” Karl told him.

“So be it," he said. "I'll wear it like a badge. So be it."