Liz Cheney threatened Donald Trump’s incoming Department of Justice on Monday, claiming that any move to investigate the now-defunct January 6th committee would be “sanctionable conduct.” The statement, put out in response to Trump’s recent “Meet the Press” interview, also denied allegations that she and her colleagues destroyed evidence.
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While speaking to NBC News’ Kristen Welker, the president-elect said the following.
“Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps,” the President-elect said, referring to Mississippi Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (the committee’s chairman). “They deleted and destroyed all evidence.”
That triggered Cheney, who lashed out, stating that Trump committed the “worst breach of our Constitution by any president in our nation’s history.”
SEE: Liz Cheney Whines About Team Trump Possibly Retaliating Against Her, Shows She’s Learned Nothing
“Here is the truth: Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power,” she said in a statement. “He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building and halted the official counting of electoral votes. Trump watched on television as police officers were brutally beaten and the Capitol was assaulted, refusing for hours to tell the mob to leave.”
She continued: “This was the worst breach of our Constitution by any president in our nation’s history. Donald Trump’s suggestion that members of Congress who later 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.”
Reading this post-election makes it all the more pathetic. There has still never been any evidence presented that Donald Trump intended for anyone to physically attack the Capitol Building. It’s also simply false that he refused to ask the “mob to leave” for “hours.” Trump did not try to “seize power,” and it has been proven that he requested National Guard troops to be present but was rebuffed.
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How do we know that? Because the January 6th committee received testimony corroborating the claim. Of course, Cheney and her cohorts buried it, refusing to include it in their hearings or report. The testimony wasn’t revealed until March of 2024. A month later, three National Guard officers came forward as whistleblowers to tell the same story.
As to Trump’s claim of evidence being “deleted and destroyed,” that happened as well.
SEE: Report Details How Liz Cheney and Democrats Deleted Evidence, Hired Producers to Mislead Public
When faced with that reality, Cheney threatened the incoming Trump administration.
“Donald Trump knows his claims about the select committee are ridiculous and false, as has been detailed extensively, including by Chairman Thompson,” she said. “There is no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is suggesting — a Justice Department investigation of the work of a congressional committee — and any lawyer who attempts to pursue that course would quickly find themselves engaged in sanctionable conduct.”
I’m not sure exactly how that would work. It seems as if Cheney is suggesting Congress could sanction the DOJ as a separation of powers issue. Color me skeptical that would ever happen, especially given the current Republican majority, however slim. Or maybe she means the legal establishment will step in and do her bidding? Whatever it is, Cheney’s threat does show how he or she views the rule of law. While constantly bleating about it, she does not believe it applies to herself.
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Regardless, it is pedantic nonsense to latch onto Trump’s mention of “all evidence” when he was clearly speaking in generalities. The January 6th committee did delete some of the evidence, and they also hid much more of it in an attempt to color the public’s view of the situation for political gain. Those are undeniable facts, no matter how much Cheney tries to muddy the waters.
As to her threats, they are toothless. The Trump DOJ should investigate what happened with the January 6th committee. It should find out how much evidence was altered and destroyed in what was a clear abuse of power and a waste of taxpayer money. That’s what people voted for in November. They didn’t vote for the status quo. They voted for change and accountability. Cheney, who campaigned with Kamala Harris, can cope and seeth about it.
