House Republicans side with Trump, go after Liz Cheney after Jan. 6 investigation

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans concluded as they concluded their investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney should be held responsible for investigating then-President Donald Trump. Pope was prosecuted for what happened when he sent his thugs to attack.

The findings released Tuesday show Republicans are working to bolster Trump’s desire to punish his enemies, including members of the Jan. 6 committee that Cheney and the president-elect said should be jailed.

“Unless we hold those responsible accountable and reform our institutions, we will not be able to fully regain trust,” wrote House Administration Committee Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga.

The 128-page interim report from Republicans on the panel comes as Trump prepares to return to the White House and works to staff his administration with top officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel. Patel, who seemed to be like-minded in their pursuit of revenge. Trump also vowed to pardon those convicted of participating in the Capitol riot.

It revisits longstanding Republican arguments that Trump is not to blame for the Capitol attack. The Justice Department has indicted about 1,500 people, including leaders of the militant Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, and charged Trump with four criminal counts, including conspiring to overturn the election. Special counsel Jack Smith has since dropped the case against Trump before the inauguration to comply with Justice Department guidelines that a sitting president cannot be charged.

But the new report’s conclusions single out the former vice president’s daughter, Cheney, herself a rising conservative star who was ousted from Republican leadership after voting to impeach Trump for inciting insurrection. After becoming committee vice chair on January 6, Cheney lost re-election to a Trump-backed Wyoming challenger. By the fall, Cheney was working to prevent Trump from returning to the White House and campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Cheney on Tuesday defended in detail the committee’s painstaking work, the 900-page Jan. 6 report released in December 2022, and said Loudermilk’s own report “ignored the facts.”

“The events of January 6 showed us who Donald Trump truly is – a cruel and vindictive man who watched on television while allowing the violent attacks on our Capitol and law enforcement officers to continue,” Cheney said. occurred and refused for several hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave.

“Now, Chairman Loudermilk’s ‘Interim Report’ willfully ignores the truth and the overwhelming evidence of the Select Committee, turning instead to fabricated lies and defamatory accusations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump has done.”

President Joe Biden is considering pardoning members of Congress and others to avoid angering Trump. But several people involved have said they are not seeking or hoping for a pardon from Biden.

Among those Trump seeks to prosecute include Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, Cheney and other members of the Jan. 6 committee, as well as Justice Department special counsel Smith, who is prosecuting Trump.

The report comes just as Congress will be asked in the coming weeks to certify the results of the 2024 elections. But unlike Republicans four years ago who refused to accept Biden’s victory over Trump and claimed voter fraud, Democrats expressed trust and accepted the election results.

The Republican panel’s findings cast a new light on the multiple security breaches of Jan. 6, 2021, and reignite controversy over the lag in calls for the National Guard, which, along with police reinforcements, restored order at the Capitol as night fell. . Congress returned to work that night and worked into the next morning to certify Biden’s 2020 election.

“This report shows there was more than one reason for the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” Loudermilk wrote in his introduction. “The Capitol was not safe today.”

But Loudermilk is equally focused on the committee that was formed on January 6 (after then-Speaker Pelosi stepped forward to investigate what happened), and its leader, Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson and Cheney.

The report names Cheney for her work with one of the star witnesses against Trump, former young White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who has provided some of the most detailed accounts of the defeated president’s actions that day. description.

Hutchinson testified at a committee hearing on January 6, 2022, that she was less than candid during her first interview with the panel and experienced an “ethical struggle” and wanted to return.

She eventually ditched Trump-allied lawyers and later held a bombshell public hearing describing Trump’s presence in the White House at the time of the Capitol riot.

Cheney, who described the committee’s work in her book “Oath and Honor,” played a crucial role in meeting Cassidy and feared for her safety when she decided to come forward. .

Loudermilk’s panel concluded that these actions amounted to witness tampering and constituted grounds for prosecution.

“Liz Cheney may have violated numerous federal laws,” the committee wrote in its conclusion. “These violations should be investigated by the FBI.”

It also said Thompson violated House rules in his handling of documents and transcripts.

Thompson said the report was full of “baseless” accusations. “No matter how much Mr. Loudermilk wants to rewrite history, there is no escaping the reality that Donald Trump bears responsibility for the deadly attack on January 6,” he said.

In an interview earlier this month, Trump reiterated his campaign promise to hold accountable those who blame him for the events of January 6.

“Honestly, they should go to jail,” referring to members of Congress investigating the Capitol attack.

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