Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is continuing her vocal public opposition to the disastrous rhetoric and behavior of former President Donald Trump. Specifically, Cheney has been a prominent opponent of Trump’s lies about the integrity of last year’s presidential election, which he has repeatedly and falsely claimed was somehow rigged for Joe Biden. Amid Cheney’s work as part of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, which was inspired by those lies, the Wyoming Congresswoman participated in an interview with 60 Minutes, putting Trump on public notice once again in the process.
As Cheney put it, discussing her participation in the riot investigation committee:
‘I think that millions of people around the country have been betrayed and misled, and deceived by Donald Trump. He has said that the election was stolen. He continues to say that. He continues to say things that aren’t true, and continues to raise money off of those claims. And so to me, there’s just not a question [about working on the committee].’
During the interview, Cheney also called out Trump’s behavior on January 6 as the riot at the Capitol unfolded. That riot put the lives of members of Congress and many others in danger, and yet, many prominent Republicans have hesitated to condemn the election lies that directly inspired the violence. Cheney added as follows:
‘I watched while the attack was underway — understood very clearly what [Trump] did on January 6, what he failed to do on January 6. Instead of stopping the attack while it was underway, he was busy calling up senators trying to get them to delay the count… I think he’s very dangerous.’
Going forward, former President Trump has eagerly endorsed a Republican primary challenger to Cheney, but she observed that “a vote for whomever Donald Trump has endorsed is a vote for somebody who’s willing to perpetuate the big lie, somebody who’s willing to put allegiance to Trump above allegiance to the Constitution.” Still, Trump and his ideological allies have prioritized going after Cheney and others who have positioned themselves similarly in opposition to the former president’s lies. Recently, for instance, Trump celebrated a retirement announcement from Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio). Like Cheney, Gonzalez was one of ten House Republicans to vote in favor of impeaching Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection after the January Capitol riot.
Cheney insisted that she can’t be “silent.” As she put it:
‘When you look at the spread of these mistruths and the spread of the disinformation, silence enables it. Silence enables the liar. And silence helps it to spread… Because when we allow [election lies] to continue to go on in the face of rulings of the courts, in the face of recounts, in the face of everything that’s gone on to demonstrate that there was not fraud that would have changed the outcome, then we all– if we do that, we are contributing to the undermining of our system. And it’s a really serious and dangerous moment because of that.’
Read more from Cheney’s CBS interview at this link, and check it out below:
