Representative Liz Cheney said that one House Republican who objected to the 2020 presidential election results before the January 6 riot reportedly called former president Donald Trump “orange Jesus”.
Ms Cheney made the remarks at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington DC, for its Constitution Day event.
The congresswoman said that on January 6, the day that the election results would be certified, Ms Cheney, who was then chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, went into the Republican cloakroom before the attack and saw sheets of paper laid out on the desk there that members were signing.
A staffer told Ms Cheney that the papers turned out to be sheets for members to sign so they could object to the 2020 presidential election results.
“It’s only actually required that one House member object but there were so many who wanted to show they were objecting,” she said. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise were among the 147 Republicans who objected to the election results.
“As I was sitting there, a member came in and he signed his name on each one of the sheets,” she said. “And he said under his breath, ‘the things we do for the orange Jesus.’ And I thought ‘you’re taking an act that is unconstitutional.’”
Ms Cheney would later vote to impeach Mr Trump for his actions in the January 6 riot. Her outspoken criticism of the Republican Party after Mr Trump left office led to her ousting as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference in exchange for Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, who also voted to object.
Since then, Ms Cheney became vice chairwoman for the House select committee investigating the riot at the US Capitol.
Last month, Ms Cheney lost the Republican primary for Wyoming’s at-large congressional district.
