Former Wyoming Republican Representative Liz Cheney called President-elect Donald Trump a "cruel and vindictive man," saying he and his GOP allies are spearheading an effort to cover up the truth of Trump's actions during the January 6 insurrection, the day a mob of Trump's supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on the false premise the 2020 election was stolen.
Cheney's words were a response to the news that Georgia Republican Representative Barry Loudermilk, chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, released a report accusing her of misconduct during her tenure on the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection.
Loudermilk claimed that Cheney may have altered or influenced critical testimony given by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, whose testimony offered further insight into Trump's mindset that day, notably that he was aware of and supported the plan to attack the nation's seat of government.
Cheney issued the following statement calling out these "lies and defamatory allegations":
“Jan. 6th showed Donald Trump for who [he] really is — a cruel and vindictive man who allowed violent attacks to continue against our Capitol and law enforcement officers while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave."
"The January 6th Committee’s hearings and report featured scores of republican witnesses, including many of the most senior officials from Trump’s own White House, campaign and Administration. All of this testimony was painstakingly laid out in thousands of pages of transcripts, made public with a highly detailed and meticulously sourced 800 page report."
"The Department of Justice conducted its own independent investigation and reached the same fundamental conclusions. Now, Chairman Loudermilk’s ‘Interim Report’ intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did.”
She concluded:
"Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth. No reputable lawyer, legislator, or judge would take this seriously."
You can see her statement below.
@lizcheney/Blue Sky
Many praised Cheney for speaking out.
Earlier this month, Cheney called out Trump after he said in an interview with Meet the Press that Cheney and others on the House Select Committee "should be jailed."
Cheney soon after responded with the following blistering statement calling Trump's remarks "an assault on the rule of law" and condemned his actions as "the worst breach of our Constitution by any president in our nation’s history."
She added that his calls that those who "investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”
President Joe Biden’s team is deliberating whether to issue blanket pardons before he leaves office to individuals, such as Cheney, who could be targeted by Trump as part of the president-elect’s vowed “retribution” against his opponents.
Trump has made clear his plan to leverage the DOJ, particularly the FBI, to target his political adversaries, despite a lack of specific allegations of legal wrongdoing by those opponents. Supporters of pre-emptive pardons argue that such measures are essential to counter unprecedented threats, protecting both the individuals targeted by Trump’s retaliation and the integrity of the justice system as a whole.
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