Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said on Sunday that there is “no question” events similar to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot could occur again in the future as she continued to malign former President Donald Trump.
Cheney, who has stood by her fierce opposition to Trump, was removed from her post as the House Republican Conference’s chairwoman on Wednesday and subsequently replaced by New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a pick endorsed by the former president, in a swift vote by her GOP colleagues in Congress. The Wyoming Republican has appeared to be a thorn in Trump’s side since she voted to move forward with his second impeachment trial, in which he was acquitted of inciting the unrest at the Capitol.
“I think there’s no question,” Cheney said of the possibility of more events similar to Jan. 6 on a segment of ABC News’s This Week. “I mean, you know, we’ve now seen the consequences. We’ve seen how far the president, President Trump, was willing to go. We’ve seen not only his provocation of the attack, but his refusal to send help when it was needed, his refusal to immediately say, ‘stop.’ And that in and of itself, in my view, was a very clear violation of his oath and of his duty.”
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Cheney called Stefanik’s appointment “dangerous” and likened Trump’s claims of election fraud in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election to the “Chinese Communist Party.”
“I think it’s dangerous,” she said. “I think that — that we have to recognize how quickly things can unravel. We have to recognize what it means for the nation to have a former president who has not conceded and who continues to suggest that our electoral system cannot function, cannot do the will of the people.”
“To cause that kind of questioning about our process, frankly, it’s the same kinds of things that the Chinese Communist Party says about democracy: that it’s a failed system, that America is a failed nation,” Cheney said. “I won’t be part of that. And I think it’s very important for Republicans who won’t be part of that to stand up and speak out.”
On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a bipartisan deal to examine the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Voting on its inception would take place as early as this week. Cheney said she anticipates House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy being subpoenaed to testify before the potential committee, as he was chatting with Trump when throngs of angry supporters breached the Rotunda.
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“He absolutely should, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he were subpoenaed,” she said of McCarthy. “I think that he very clearly and said publicly that he’s got information about the president’s state of mind that day. I would anticipate [a subpoena]. I would hope he doesn’t require a subpoena, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he were subpoenaed.”
Cheney, despite her removal from a key House GOP leadership position, has vowed to block Trump if he were to decide to run for president in 2024. At the present moment, she is focused on retaining her Wyoming seat and has not indicated an intent to run for executive office.
