Liz Cheney Breaks with Republican Leadership to Support Commission into Capitol Riot

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Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:58 pm

Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) broke with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to support a 9/11-style commission into the Capitol riot of January 6, which took place after a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the United States Capitol to try and overturn the results of the 2020 general election.

“What happened on Jan. 6 is unprecedented in our history. And I think that it’s very important that the commission be able to focus on that,” Cheney said in remarks during a Republican gathering in Florida.

“I’m very concerned, as all my colleagues are, about the violence that we saw, the BLM, the antifa violence last summer. I think that’s a different set of issues, a different set of problems, and a different set of solutions,” she continued. “And so I think it’s very important that the Jan. 6 commission stays focused on what happened on Jan. 6, and what led to that day.”

McCarthy had previously proposed limiting the scope of a commission and has sparred with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on its creation as well as its mechanics as many Republicans continue to downplay the seriousness of the attack, which claimed five lives.

Cheney was one of a handful of Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection against Congress. The Wyoming Republican Party later voted to censure her.

Cheney said President Trump “lit the flame” of the attack. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” she said in a statement in January.

In remarks that month to The Casper Star-Tribune, Cheney was firm that she made the right decision.

“I will continue to talk to and hear from my constituents all over Wyoming,” she said. “But when it came down to it, the president of the United States incited a mob to attack and interrupt the democratic process. And then, while the violence played out, the president refused to take steps to stop it. In my mind, those are absolutely high crimes and misdemeanors. There’s just simply no question. This was a vote that could not have anything to do with party or with politics.”