Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is remaining committed to her efforts to hold former President Donald Trump and his enablers accountable for their undercutting of democracy. At present, Cheney serves as vice chair of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, but the issues weighing on the present political environment extend on from there, and they’re not likely to be solved by the work of the riot investigation committee alone, however diligent. The Republican Party is continuing to welcome the lies from Trump about last year’s election, which he claims was rigged for Biden, and it’s this wholesale rejection of documented reality that set up the Capitol riot — and could set up something similar in the future.
On @ThisWeekABC just now, @Liz_Cheney said the January 6 committee now has “first-hand testimony” confirming Trump was in his private dining room watching TV as the Capitol riot unfolded, as reported in “Betrayal”
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) January 2, 2022
On CBS this weekend, Cheney commented as follows:
‘I think the country needs a strong Republican Party going forward, but our party has to choose. We can either be loyal to Donald Trump or we can be loyal to the Constitution, but we cannot be both. And right now, there are far too many Republicans who are trying to enable the former president, embrace the former president. [They are trying to] look the other way and hope that the former president goes away, trying to obstruct the activities of this committee. But we won’t be deterred. At the end of the day, the facts matter, and the truth matters.’
Check out Cheney’s comments below:
The Republican Party has to make a choice.
We can either be loyal to our Constitution or loyal to Donald Trump, but we cannot be both. pic.twitter.com/pDg8Lb3rzy
— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) January 2, 2022
There are concerns about the future of the riot investigation committee in the event that Republicans take control of the House after the 2022 elections, and before those elections — and whatever their outcomes may be — the panel has a lot on its agenda. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), an investigative committee member, said over the weekend that further public hearings should be happening in coming weeks or months. As he put it, when asked about the plans for hearings: “We should begin them, I hope, in a matter of weeks, if not a couple of months from now. And what we expect to do is lay out what we’ve been learning for the American people.”
Make no mistake: Trump incited his supporters to try to overthrow the government once before, and he's going to try it again. Members of Congress have to ask themselves if they're going to just let it happen or if they'll stand up for democracy.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 2, 2022
In the meantime, the committee is pursuing records from the Trump administration to help further show what exactly was going on within the former president’s team around the time of the riot. Criminal referrals, including for Trump and potentially covering offenses like obstruction of an official proceeding, have also been raised as a possibility. A referral wouldn’t force the Justice Department to act, but it would increase the pressure for officials at the department to bring charges.
.@RepLizCheney tells ABC today “We can be loyal to our Constitution or loyal to Donald Trump. We can’t be both”
And tells @FaceTheNation on CBS
“People have got to understand the danger of President Trump” …
And “He can never be near the Oval Office again”
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) January 2, 2022
