An incensed Donald Trump has launched a direct attack on Liz Cheney, the Republican vice-chair of the January 6 committee, calling her a “despicable human being”, decrying her colleagues as “thugs” and complaining that they should be investigating violent left-wing activists instead of him.
“Warmongering and despicable human being Liz Cheney, who is hated by the great people of Wyoming (down 35!), keeps saying, over and over again, that HER Fake Unselect Committee may recommend CRIMINAL CHARGES against a President of the United States who got more votes than any sitting President in history,” wrote the clearly furious ex-president. “Even the Dems didn’t know what she was talking about! Why doesn’t she press charges instead against those that cheated on the Election, or those that didn’t properly protect the Capitol?
“Why doesn’t the highly partisan Unselect Committee of political Thugs, the same people (all Trump haters & profiteers - books, speeches, etc.) that were involved with Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax # 2, the “No Collusion” Mueller Report and, overall, the GREATEST WITCH HUNT IN THE HISTORY OF THE USA, go after the people who have been rioting, burning down cities, leading the massive crime wave, & killing many all over the U.S., including drug & human traffickers? No, let’s get ‘Trump’!”
Mr Trump has endorsed a Republican challenger to Ms Cheney in her Wyoming re-election race. His chosen candidate, Harriet Hageman, was one of several candidates to debate the incumbent last week in an encounter that saw the non-Cheney contenders endorsing assorted lies and conspiracy theories about the 6 January riot, the 2020 election, and other topics.
Ms Cheney is widely expected to lose the primary because of the Republican base’s Trumpward tilt, but she has raised spectacular sums of money and has been reaching out to her state’s Democrats to re-register so they can vote for her in the GOP primary.
Mr Trump initially stayed away from commentating on the January 6 committee’s hearings, but he has grown steadily angrier as they have unfolded. Reports say he is furious that there are no Republicans fighting his corner on the panel, although it was minority leader Kevin McCarthy who pulled out of seating any members of his own choosing.
On the back of the latest testimony from former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson, several members of the panel – including Ms Cheney – have made it clearer than ever that in their view, the evidence they have gathered could support criminal charges against Mr Trump.
