Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) says the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has “firsthand testimony” about what former President Donald Trump was doing as his supporters stormed the building to interrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
Cheney was asked by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, “Have you been surprised by anything you found over the last year?”
“I’ve certainly been surprised by many things,” Cheney began. “We are learning much more about what former President Trump was doing while the violent assault was underway.”
She continued, “The committee has firsthand testimony now that he was sitting in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the attack on television as the assault on the Capitol occurred. We know, as you know well, that the briefing room at the White House is just a mere few steps from the Oval Office.”
“The president could have at any moment walked those very few steps into the briefing room, gone on live television, and told his supporters who were assaulting the Capitol to stop, he could have told them to stand down, he could have told them to go home. And he failed to do so. It’s hard to imagine a more significant, a more serious dereliction of duty than that,” she added.
Watch the video below:
"The president could have at any moment, walked those very few steps into the briefing room, gone on live television, and told his supporters who were assaulting the Capitol to stop," Rep. Liz Cheney says of former Pres. Trump's actions on Jan. 6. https://t.co/ZHWFAj107W pic.twitter.com/YIf3wP7zZV
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 3, 2022
Cheney, the vice-chair of the committee, also revealed that the panel has “firsthand testimony” the former president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, “went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence.”
Rep. Liz Cheney, the top Republican on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, says former Pres. Trump is "clearly unfit for future office, clearly can never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again." https://t.co/xs6NfZ60BP pic.twitter.com/nlM2Y7dkh0
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 3, 2022
“Any man who would provoke a violent assault on the Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes … is clearly unfit for future office, clearly can never be near the Oval Office ever again,” she added.
Finally, Cheney said she shares former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s fear that if Trump runs for president again and wins, it could lead to the end of American democracy.
“He crossed lines no American president has ever crossed before,” she said, adding, “We entrust the survival of our republic into the hands of the chief executive. And when a president refuses to tell the mob to stop, when he refuses to defend any of the coordinate branches of government, he cannot be trusted.”