Former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming spoke out Thursday on the progression of a criminal case against ex-President Donald Trump over his attempts after the last presidential election to stay in power despite losing.
Trump has been arguing that he should be judicially held to have widely encompassing protections from even the possibility of criminal consequences for actions he took as president amid his official duties, an area where he lumps what he was doing in targeting those election results. Trump recently failed before a three-judge panel on an appeals court in Washington, D.C., to whom he’d brought these arguments, but Trump had the opportunity to advance his claims yet again, next to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump showed signs of sticking to it, arguing belligerently on social media that his vision of extensive immunity was necessary for the effective functioning of the presidency. In tandem with the appeals so far, the anticipated trial in Smith’s case has been on hold. “Donald Trump knows what his own WH staff, DOJ appointees, campaign officials, etc told the 1/6 grand jury,” Cheney remarked. “Trump is trying to delay the trial to prevent those witnesses from testifying in open court. Americans have a right to hear from those witnesses now.”
Trump had a relatively quick deadline after the appeals panel’s decision for seeking additional intervention by the Supreme Court, where one longtime lawyer, Neal Katyal, predicted the Justices wouldn’t even take up the ex-president’s appeals.
Trump-related arguments were also scheduled at the Supreme Court for Thursday, with the Justices hearing out a challenge to Trump appearing on the ballot in relation to his argued connections to the violence at the U.S. Capitol of January 6, 2021. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, publicly condemned Justice Clarence Thomas for still participating in the proceedings despite the extensively documented support from his wife, Ginni Thomas, for Trump’s attempts after the last presidential election to hold the presidency.
