Could it finally be happening? Let’s hope so!
Supporters of former President Donald Trump are calling for the imprisonment of former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney on charges of treason due to her involvement in the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
According to Newsweek, Cheney served as the vice-chair of the panel, which concluded last December that Trump had participated in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election and had failed to intervene to prevent his supporters from assaulting the Capitol. Following her vote to impeach Trump and her sustained criticism of him, Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, lost her position as the No. 3 GOP leader in the House. Harriet Hageman, a Trump-endorsed Republican, took her place after defeating her in the primary.
Trump’s allies are launching renewed criticisms against Cheney, now a professor at the University of Virginia, particularly after House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Friday that he would release thousands of hours of footage from the riot.
Supporters of Trump, who is currently the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, hope that the complete archive of security footage will support their argument that the events on January 6 did not involve a violent storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters.
Some conservatives have utilized short clips from the initial batch of footage, approximately 90 hours, to assert that the rioters behaved peacefully and that the select committee overlooked evidence.
Texas Representative Ronny Jackson, for instance, claimed on X that Cheney and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used the committee to demonize all Trump supporters. He argued that revelations from the tapes showed deception and the weaponization of government for personal agendas.
Others accused Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the sole Republican on the committee who announced he would not seek reelection last year, of treason and manslaughter.
One X user asserted that Cheney had “lied to the American people and committed treason.”
However, some individuals defended Cheney, with one X user stating that she would be remembered for preventing attempts to rewrite history by MAGA supporters.
The Republicans Against Trump account praised Cheney as a true patriot who prioritized country over party.
In response to Johnson’s announcement about the release of security footage, Cheney shared a clip compiled by The New York Times, showing protesters aggressively engaging with Capitol security and police officers on January 6.
The House committee investigating the Capitol attack recommended that federal prosecutors investigate Trump for four crimes, including aiding an insurrection. Trump, asserting innocence and denouncing the case as a political witch hunt, remains the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. In August, the Department of Justice indicted Trump on four felony counts related to his role in the attack, to which he pleaded not guilty, along with three other criminal cases.