Tag: Liz Cheney

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Congress Elections GOP

House Republicans Planning ‘Payback’ On Cheney And Kinzinger If GOP Wins Midterms

If Republicans win control of the House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections, they have plans to punish two GOP members of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, Reps. Liz Cheney (WY) and Adam Kinzinger (IL).

According to a report from CNN, Republicans would likely use the House Judiciary Committee to target those they feel didn’t agree to lie and obfuscate for failed, one-term former president Donald Trump:

The GOP’s growing desire to craft a counternarrative on January 6 — and shift the blame away from Trump — comes as the former President is gearing up to soon announce another White House bid. Pursuing that effort could also be politically advantageous for McCarthy, whose expected bid for speaker would be made easier with support from Trump. The former President has sometimes criticized the California Republican over how he has handled the GOP’s defense of Trump during the select committee’s investigation.

Republicans might even try to create their own Jan. 6 committee in a pathetic attempt to spread the “big lie” Trump has suggested proves that the 2020 election was stolen from him, even though he has yet to provide a shred of evidence other than conspiracy theories and right-wing talking points while also punishing Cheney and Kinzinger for daring to serve on the current bipartisan panel:

Republicans have already asked the January 6 panel to preserve a broad range of documents in its possession — a signal they’re preparing to force those records to be turned over should they wield powerful committee gavels next year. And privately, Republican sources say there have been discussions about subpoenaing members of the select committee, particularly Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who is fighting an uphill battle for reelection, and retiring Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, if both Republicans are private citizens next year.

In other words, rather than doing anything worthwhile if they happen to win control of the House, the GOP will engage in behavior better suited for children. It’s proof-positive that every last Republican needs to be voted out of office in order to save our democracy.

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Capitol Insurrection Crime Donald Trump

Liz Cheney: Trump’s Actions On Jan. 6 Could Require ‘Enhanced Criminal Penalties’

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) said Sunday on “Meet the Press” that failed, one-term former President Donald Trump’s words and actions, along with his “supreme dereliction of duty” may require “enhanced criminal penalties.”

Cheney, one of only two Republicans on the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, told host Chuck Todd:

“Our first priority is to make recommendations. And we’re looking at things like, do we need additional enhanced criminal penalties for the kind of supreme dereliction of duty that you saw with President Trump when he refused to tell the mob to go home after he had provoked that attack on the Capitol.”

The Wyoming Republican also noted that what she’s learned since the committee began its investigation has made her even more disturbed by what transpired on Jan. 6:

“I have not learned a single thing since I have been on this committee that has made me less concerned, or less worried, about the gravity of the situation and the actions that President Trump took and also refused to take while the attack was underway.”

While the House committee can make criminal referrals to the Justice Department after their investigation is completed, it remains unclear if Attorney General Merrick Garland will proceed with charges against Trump.

However, something Garland said earlier this month during an interview with NPR certainly sounded like the DOJ would be willing to hold anyone and everyone accountable for what took place at the Capitol:

“We begin with the cases that are right in front of us with the overt actions and then we build from there. And that is a process that we will continue to build until we hold everyone accountable who committed criminal acts with respect to January 6.”

If the Justice Department does indeed proceed with a criminal prosecution of Trump, what might they charge him with? Legal experts have suggested the charges might include inciting a riot, taking part in an insurrection, dereliction of duty, and interfering with the official duties of Congress.

The Jan. 6 committee is expected to begin holding public hearings in the spring.

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Capitol Insurrection GOP Uncategorized

Liz Cheney Claps Back After Gingrich Threatens Jan. 6 Committee Members With ‘Risk Of Jail’

Appearing on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures” former GOP Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich suggested that members of the January 6 House Select Committee could face the “risk of jail” if Republicans retake control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.

Gingrich told host Maria Bartiromo:

“You have — both with Attorney General [Merrick] Garland and with this select committee on January 6, people who have run amok. What they need to understand is on January 4 next year, you’re going to have a Republican majority in the House and a Republican majority in the Senate. And all these people who have been so tough, and so mean, and so nasty are going to be delivered subpoenas for every document, every conversation, every tweet, every e-mail.”

The serial adulterer from Georgia then added:

“I think when you have a Republican Congress, this is all going to come crashing down. And the wolves are going to find out that they’re now sheep and they’re the ones who are in fact, I think, face a real risk of jail for the kinds of laws they’re breaking.”

The laws they’re breaking? What about the crimes of insurrection and interfering with Congress that were committed by failed, one-term former President Donald Trump and his toadies in Congress? They’re still facing serious federal criminal charges that could send them to prison for decades.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), one of only two Republicans who have agreed to serve on the Jan. 6 panel, clapped back at Gingrich’s blatant threats, tweeting out this response:

She was soon joined by her fellow Republican on the committee, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois:

No one is afraid of you or your GOP goons, Newt. And keep in mind you haven’t won the House or Senate yet. As the committee continues to uncover new evidence and crimes, don’t be surprised if voters reject you and your fellow insurrectionists.

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Capitol Insurrection Crime Donald Trump

Liz Cheney Makes It Clear The January 6 Committee Will Refer Trump On Felony Charges

With all of the new developments and information that have come from the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection over the past week, you may have missed a key moment that transpired Monday and then again on Tuesday while Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) was speaking.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post writes that Cheney is signaling the committee is ready to refer former President Donald Trump to the Justice Department on felony charges:

Rep. Liz Cheney’s disclosures of intriguing Jan. 6 text messages between Mark Meadows and both Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News personalities are the big news in the committee’s investigation right now. But don’t lose sight of what Cheney said immediately after she read those texts aloud.

In summing up the texts, Cheney … said, “Mr. Meadows’s testimony will bear on another key question before this committee: Did Donald Trump, through action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress’s official proceeding to count electoral votes?”

Cheney was making reference to a very specific section of federal law, 18 U.S. Code § 1512, and that’s the first time anyone on the committee has spelled out what law Trump have have broken with his role in the Capitol riots.

Here’s what the law Cheney cited says:

“Whoever corruptly … obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.” That law defines an “official proceeding” as including “a proceeding before the Congress.”

Congress was meeting in joint session on Jan. 6 to certify the electoral votes which made Joe Biden president. When Trump sent his minions to march on the Capitol, the hope was to delay that proceeding and prevent naming Biden as 46th President of the United States. Even a 24-hour pause in that process could have set off a constitutional crisis the likes of which we have never seen in this country.

Just last week, a federal judge ruled that the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 was indeed an “official proceeding.”

The judge, Dabney L. Friedrich, ruled that Congress’s counting of electoral votes — the business it was engaged in when Trump supporters overran the Capitol — qualifies as an “official proceeding” under the statute.

“The Joint Session thus has the trappings of a formal hearing before an official body,” Friedrich said. “There is a presiding officer, a process by which objections can be heard, debated, and ruled upon, and a decision — the certification of the results — that must be reached before the session can be adjourned. … Accordingly, the congressional certification at issue here is a ‘proceeding before the Congress.’”

It would certainly seem that the Select Committee is ready and willing to hand over their case to the DOJ for Trump to be charged. And if he were found guilty and sentenced to several years in prison, that would certainly preclude his running in 2024. Or ever again.

 

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GOP Social Media

Liz Cheney Incinerates Ted Cruz: You’re ‘Posturing For The Secessionist Vote’

Ever since he was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been known as the most hated person on the upper chamber of Congress, even among members of his own party.

And now Cruz is picking yet another fight with a fellow Republican, but this time he chose the wrong person to go to war with.

Over the weekend on CNN, there was a discussion of who in the GOP might run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. It included a mention of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who has been a critic of failed, one-term former President Donald Trump and his apologists. Here’s the video:

Cruz, who seems to have a pathological need to be a Twitter troll (despite that fact that he’s no good at it and usually winds up owning himself), couldn’t resist commenting on the CNN debate:

“Yes. It’s called the Democratic primary.”

 

Cheney was more than equal to the challenge from Cruz, cutting him to the quick with this reply:

“I know you’re posturing for the secessionist vote, Ted. But my party, the Republican party, saved the Union. You swore an oath to the Constitution. Act like it.”

And then Cheney got support from another Republican and even a Democrat, both from the House, who were only too happy to remind Cruz that he’s been a slavish sycophant for Trump despite the fact that the ex-president accused the senator’s father of being involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy and suggested that his wife, Heidi, is ugly.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who serves on the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection with Cheney, poured salt on Cruz’s social media wounds:

“Damn son Liz brought the heat on you!”

Cruz desperately tried to counter with this pathetic retort:

“These two need to hurry up and get their bottom-rated @msnbc show.”

Kinzinger responded:

“Senator, you’ve been given a huge position to lead and tell people truth. Yet you have squandered it on lies and abused the patriotism of those who trusted you. I will have zero regrets… will you?”

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) also blasted Cruz by mentioning him in a perfectly worded follow-up to Kinzinger’s tweet:

“Adam, if you want @tedcruz’s support you’re going to have to attack his wife.”

That led to this reminder for Cruz about what had just happened to him as a result of his childish attack on Cheney:

Yep. Burned Rafael right down to the Texas dirt he came from.