Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) says “the Republican Party is at a turning point” and it must decide “whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution.”
In an op-ed published by The Washington Post on Wednesday evening, Cheney questioned whether Republicans are going to join Trump’s “crusade to delegitimize and undo the legal outcome of the 2020 election” or follow the rule of law.
“Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work — confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this,” Cheney wrote.
Touching on conservative values, Cheney continued, “The most conservative of conservative values is reverence for the rule of law. Each of us swears an oath before God to uphold our Constitution.”
Cheney noted “the electoral college has spoken” and more than 60 state and federal courts, along with multiple Trump-appointed judges have denied Trump’s arguments about the election and refused to overturn the results of the election.
Arguing Trump has never expressed remorse for the January 6 insurrection, Cheney claimed the former president “now suggests that our elections, and our legal and constitutional system, cannot be trusted to do the will of the people.”
She provided three steps Republicans can take to move forward.
“First, support the ongoing Justice Department criminal investigations of the Jan. 6 attack,” Cheney added.
The second step she suggested is to support a “parallel bipartisan review by a commission with subpoena power” into the insurrection at the Capitol.
“The Black Lives Matter and antifa violence of last summer was illegal and reprehensible, but it is a different problem with a different solution,” Cheney wrote.
Finally, she called on Republicans to “stand for genuinely conservative principles, and steer away from the dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality.”
Warning there is “much at stake now,” Cheney mentioned “the ridiculous wokeness of our political rivals, the irrational policies at the border and runaway spending that threatens a return to the catastrophic inflation of the 1970s.”
Cheney concluded, “History is watching. Our children are watching. We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process.”
The lawmaker stressed she is “committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be.”
According to one source, House Republicans could vote to remove Cheney from her leadership position as early as May 12.
