Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., has not forgiven Donald Trump for his actions on Jan. 6. At a rally Thursday with Vice President Kamala Harris in Wisconsin, Cheney told the crowd that they shouldn’t forget the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol either.
“In this election, putting patriotism ahead of partisanship is not an aspiration — it is our duty,” Cheney said to cheers, ABC News reported.
In her speech, Cheney, who helped lead the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection, warned against the possible re-election of the Republican presidential nominee, who she called “a threat unlike any we have faced before.”
Cheney went on to describe accounts from former Trump aides who saw the former president in front of a television, watching rioters overrun the Capitol as if it were a spectacle. Cheney said Trump’s inability to accept his defeat was a grave threat to democracy: “At the very heart of our survival as a republic is the peaceful transition of power.”
As a conservative, Cheney said she felt the need to support Harris because of the threat Trump poses. However, she also said Harris “will be a president who will defend the rule of law and I know that she will be a president who can inspire all of our children — and, if I might say so, especially our little girls.”
Speaking in front of a sign that read, “Country Over Party,” Cheney criticized those who would minimize the seriousness of Jan 6.
“We have a responsibility, all of us, to remind people that our institutions don’t defend themselves,” she said. “We the people have to do that, we the people defend our institutions.”
Cheney also went after Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, who would have “thrown out the votes of the people of Wisconsin.” Vance has repeatedly denied Trump’s loss — though he privately predicted it — and has said he would have blocked certification of President Joe Biden’s victory had he been vice president at the time.
Cheney’s remarks triggered a series of angry posts from the Republican nominee.
“Liz Cheney lost her Congressional Seat by the largest margin in the history of Congress for a sitting Representative. The people of Wyoming are really smart! She is a low IQ War Hawk that, as a member of the J6 Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs, ILLEGALLY DESTROYED & DELETED all documents, information, and evidence. Her father, Dick, was a leader of our ridiculous journey into the Middle East, where Trillions of Dollars were spent, millions of people were killed – and for what? NOTHING!” he wrote, referring to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which the former president himself supported at the time.
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