 "Why are Donald Trump, House Republicans going after Liz Cheney?")
Donald Trump isn’t in office yet.
But the US President-elect and House GOP are already going after his enemies.
At the very top of his hit list is Republican Liz Cheney – the daughter of former US vice-president Dick Cheney.
Republicans in the House of Representatives are now calling for Cheney to be prosecuted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Trump, who is set to return to the White House in January, on Wednesday morning took to his Truth Social website to say that Cheney is ‘in a lot of trouble.’
But what happened? And why are Trump and the House Republicans going after Cheney?
Let’s take a closer look:
What happened?
As per CNN, Trump’s allies in the House have now released a report saying Cheney be prosecuted by the FBI for her part in probing the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol.
As per Hindustan Times, the report was released by the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee chaired by Republican Barry Loudermilk.
As per CNN, It accuses Cheney of colluding with ex- Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to aid the January 6 committee’s investigation – essentially witness tampering.
It was Hutchinson, a former young White House aide, who provided some of the most detailed descriptions of the defeated president’s actions that day.
“Based on the evidence obtained by this Subcommittee, numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, the former Vice Chair of the January 6 Select Committee, and these violations should be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” the report states.
“Evidence uncovered by the Subcommittee revealed that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney tampered with at least one witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, by secretly communicating with Hutchinson without Hutchinson’s attorney’s knowledge,” the report added.
According to The Guardian, the report also accused Cheney and Hutchinson of lying under oath.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation must also investigate Representative Cheney for violating 18 U.S.C. 1622, which prohibits any person from procuring another person to commit perjury. Based on the evidence obtained by this Subcommittee, Hutchinson committed perjury when she lied under oath to the Select Committee,” the report states.
The GOP panel’s findings revisit the multiple security failings on January 6, 2021, and revive the dispute over the lag in calling in the National Guard, which along with police reinforcements, restored order at the Capitol by nightfall.
Congress returned to work that evening and worked into the next morning to certify the 2020 election for Biden.
“This report reveals that there was not just one single cause for what happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” Loudermilk wrote in an introduction. “The Capitol is no safer today.”
“Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi’s multimillion-dollar Select Committee was a political weapon with a singular focus to deceive the public into blaming President Trump for the violence on January 6 and to tarnish the legacy of his first Presidency,” the report states as per The Hill.
Why is this happening?
As per Hindustan Times, the report is an attempt by House Republicans to absolve Trump of any responsibility for the 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.
It instead seeks to lay the blame on “series of intelligence, security, and leadership failures at several levels and numerous entities” for the incident.
“Until we hold accountable those responsible, and reform our institutions, we will not fully regain trust,” Loudermilk wrote as per CNN.
And also because Trump has long called for his political enemies including Cheney, those who brought criminal cases against him while he was out of power, and former officials he contends impeded him during his 2017-2021 term to be prosecuted.
Cheney, a fierce critic of Trump, was vice chair of the January 6 committee.
She was also among the few Republicans in the House that voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Capitol riot.
The former rising star in the Republican party was relieved of her positions in leadership after her actions against Trump.
She also her lost her re-election campaign in Wyoming to a Trump-backed challenger.
Cheney further endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris for president and even campaigned with her, warning the public that Trump “wants to be a tyrant.”
Trump previously said Cheney should go to jail and even mused about her facing a ‘military tribunal.’
As per The Guardian, Trump also mused about her ‘facing rifles shooting at her’ – which some took to mean a firing squad – and called her a ‘radical war hawk.’
Trump in an interview earlier this month revived his campaign promises to go after those who blamed him for January 6.
“Honestly, they should go to jail,” referring to members of Congress who investigated the Capitol attack.
Trump has also said he would pardon those convicted of crimes on January 6.
“…if they were non-violent, I think they’ve been greatly punished,” Trump recently told Time Magazine. “And the answer is I will be doing that, yeah, I’m going to look if there’s some that really were out of control.”
More than 140 police officers were injured in the violence, five people including a police officer died during or shortly after the riot and the Capitol sustained more than $2.8 million in damage.
The Department of Justice has prosecuted some 1,500 people including the leaders of the militant Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, and indicted Trump on four criminal charges, including conspiracy to overturn the election.
Special counsel Jack Smith has since abandoned the case against Trump ahead of the inauguration in adherence to Justice Department guidelines that sitting presidents cannot be charged.
President Joe Biden is considering issuing pardons to spare members of Congress and others from Trump’s wrath. But several of the people involved have said they are not seeking or don’t want pardons from Biden.
Among those Trump wants prosecuted are Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Cheney and others members of the January 6 committee, as well as Jack Smith, the DOJ special counsel who indicted Trump.
However, Cheney isn’t intimidated.
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,” Cheney said.
“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,” she continued.
The report also accused Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chaired the Jan 6 committee, of breaking House rules in the handling of files and transcripts.
Thompson responded by telling CNN, “His so-called ‘report’ is filled with baseless, conclusory allegations rather than facts. That’s because there’s no escaping the reality that Donald Trump bears the responsibility for the deadly January 6th attack no matter how much Mr Loudermilk would love to rewrite history for his political purposes.”
With inputs from agencies
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