Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Has called on her colleagues to shut down former President Donald Trump as she begins her second Senate trial this week.
Cheney, the third-ranked Republican of the House, was one of ten Republicans in the House who voted in favor of accusing Trump last month of his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Cheney has been censored by the state party over the vote and faces a primary challenge, although she was easily able to win a vote of confidence last week to remain chair of the Republican Conference of the House.
“We need to take a really good look at who we are and what we stand for, what we believe in,” Cheney told Fox News Sunday. ‘I think so when you look at both [Trump’s] actions that led to January 6, that he was charged in a dual manner, the fact that he lost the presidency, the fact that we lost the Senate. We must be in a position where we can say we stand for principles, for ideals. ‘
“We must not embrace the former president,” she added.
Cheney’s comments come after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, met with Trump in Mar-a-Lago late last month and has since softened his language on Trump’s role in the riot.
After a vote in which 45 Senate Republicans attempted to declare Trump’s indictment unconstitutional because he had already left office, it seems highly unlikely that the former president will be convicted, as at least 67 votes are needed to do so. But Cheney said the Senate hearing “is a screenshot” in terms of accountability for the former president’s role in the riot.
“There is a massive criminal investigation going on. There will be a massive criminal investigation into everything that happened on January 6 and in the days before that,” Cheney said. “People want to know exactly what the president is doing. For example, they want to know whether the tweet he sent to name Vice President Pence a coward while the attack was going on, or the tweet, for example, a premeditated advice to use violence. to attract. ‘
“There are a lot of questions that need to be answered and there will be a lot of criminal investigations that look at every aspect of this and everyone who was involved in it, as it should be,” she said, adding: “We have never seen that kind of an assault by a President of the United States on another branch of government, and it can never happen again. ‘
Cheney said if she were a senator, she would consider the evidence and arguments before reaching a conclusion, but said that what is already known is worth accusing.
“What we already know is the greatest violation of his oath of office by any president in the history of the country,” she said. “And it’s not something we can simply look past or pretend didn’t happen, or try to keep going. We need to make sure it never happens again.”
Senate Republicans on Sunday continued to voice doubts that the Senate would convict the former president.
In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Said that although he believes the trial is constitutional, a conviction is “very unlikely” and sen Lindsey Graham, RS. C., told CBS’s “Face the Nation” of the trial: “The result is really not in doubt.”
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss, told ABC’s “This Week” he believes Trump should not be convicted during the trial because “the Constitution does not provide for the indictment of a former president.”
Asked if he thinks the president should be held accountable for his behavior, Wicker said: “if he is held accountable, it means he is being charged by the House and convicted by the Senate, the answer is no. “
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he believes the House did an incredibly poor job of building a case before their indictment. ‘
Cheney said much of the setback she has faced since the indictment is due to misinformation.
‘They believe it [Black Lives Matter] and Antifa was behind what happened here at Capitol, “she said of the state party leaders who voted to condemn her. That is simply not the case. That is not true, and we are going to have a lot of work to do. “People are being lied to.”
“The extent to which the President, President Trump, spread the idea for months until January 6 that the election was stolen or that the election was hampered was a lie, and people need to understand that,” she continued. “We need to make sure that we as Republicans are the party of truth and that we are honest about what really happened in 2020, so we actually have a chance to win in 2022 and win back the White House in 2024.”
