Cheney is one of nine House members serving on the committee chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) investigating the Capitol riot, including Trump’s role in it.
“We watched what this president did from — throughout the election, the lies that he told, the extent to which he went to war with the rule of law,“ she said. “He completely ignored the rulings of over 60 courts, including judges he had appointed, and refused to send help, refused to tell people to stand down for multiple hours while that attack was underway.“
Emphasizing her opposition to the policies of the Biden administration, Cheney said the opposition to President Joe Biden should come from “conservative, principled leadership,” not from Trump.
“The Republican Party has to make a choice. We can either be loyal to our Constitution or loyal to Donald Trump, but we cannot be both,” she said.
Cheney was responding to comments from Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 presidential opponent. She told MSNBC in an interview that aired Thursday: “If he’s not held accountable and he gets to do it again, I think that could be the end of our democracy.”
Clinton added: “If he or someone of his ilk were to be once again elected president … you will not recognize our country.”
Thompson echoed their remarks Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.“
“As I have viewed the film, as I’ve toured the Capitol, as I’ve talked to the Capitol policemen, Metropolitan policemen, National Guardsmen, we came critically close to losing this democracy as we’ve come to know it,“ he said.