Liz Cheney calls out Donald Trump, Republicans over Jan. 6 in speech
Marina Pitofsky USA TODAY
Former congresswoman Liz Cheney called out her Republican colleagues in a commencement speech on Sunday, accusing them of urging her to tell lies following the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cheney, addressing graduates of Colorado College, said: "After the 2020 election and the attack of January 6th, my fellow Republicans wanted me to lie. They wanted me to say that the 2020 election was stolen, that the attack of January 6th wasn't a big deal, and that Donald Trump wasn't dangerous."
"I had to choose between lying and losing my position in House leadership," the former Republican lawmaker, who graduated from Colorado College in 1988, said.
'A love and reverence for freedom'
Cheney reflected on leading a prayer among her colleagues at the end of her role as chair of the House Republican Conference.
"As the House Republicans bowed our heads in the auditorium beneath the Capitol, I prayed that we would know a love and a reverence for freedom. I prayed that we would remember that democratic systems could fray and suddenly unravel and that when they do, they are gone forever," she said.
Cheney served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, rising to the No. 3 GOP leadership position in the lower chamber on Congress. She voted to impeach former President Donald Trump following the Capitol riot and has been a vocal president of the former leader.
Cheers could be heard from the crowd during Cheney's remarks, along with some boos.
Cheney was also the vice chair of the now-dissolved House select committee investigating the Capitol attack. The committee in its final report claimed that Trump was the "central cause" behind the riot that sought to interrupt Congress' certification of the 2020 presidential election.
In 2022, Cheney lost a primary election to Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, who now represents Wyoming's single House district.
Before Trump's first town hall with CNN earlier this month, Cheney aired an attack ad against the former president targeting his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Contributing: Ken Tran, USA TODAY; Associated Press
LIZ Cheney told the truth about Trump, "OH MY!"
I was never much of a fan, but I respect her for putting country over party when she knew the probable outcome.
Liz makes the MAGA cry and cry and cry...
"and has been a vocal president of the former leader."
Say what?
I never wrote that? Where did it come from?
Nah - not enough memes.
Got to thank you for my first laugh out loud of the morning.
Lizzie Cheney took an axe
and gave her future 40 whacks.
No more daddy to pave the way for you anymore Lizzie .......
In other word, Cheney told the truth on Trump and it drives the MAGA to hysteric distraction!
Oh goody - another meme with nothing to say.
Why are you opposed to Making America Great Again? Are you from Helsinki? Were you next to Putin at the podium? Did you sign off on the condo prints? You don't like America?
Curious minds would like to know.
The ironic thing is that liking Cheney just highlights liberals with TDS. She had one of the most conservative voting records in the House but she had one thing and only one thing in common with loons on the far left.
She is TDS ridden as well.
LTDS actually ...
Liz who?
Cheney might beat Biden. Trump never could...
She should give it a go. The Dems are surely looking for a better nominee than Joe.
Liz running as a Dem?
Sure, why not? Donnie ran and won as a Republican so it is only fair.
Liz might be the first president to ever get impeached by her own party then. Dems would never tolerate her as PotUS; even if it was under their banner.
Joe will beat Trump by 10,000,000 votes...
Why can't the gop get a better candidate?
Dem or Independent. Remember she was kicked out of the Republican party back in 2021.
I remember.
She has chronic TDS and believes she is the head of the Republican party.
She and her father still believe the Republican Party marches to the beat of the Cheney war drum.
So much so they are willing to see Democrats in power when Republicans defy their will.
Both Chicken Hawks from way back.
Her whole life is now defined by her hatred for Trump. Nothing else matters to her. She should start the TDS party. The donations would flock in from all those afflicted with it, ignoring all the other things they don't like about her.
Typical TDS mindset. They THINK they are important, they're not, but they think they are.
How did the ideal of making America great again become a slur?... oh yeah
It seems the last thing the current crop of democraps want is a great America.
How did the idea that the US had fallen from grace become a meme.
I'm not sure what you mean.
If America needs to be made great again, when did it fall from this position?
January 1, 1979...
So since then conservatives think the country is not great?
I have no idea, I don't speak for anyone but myself...
Slap fighting cleaned up @1.1. Play nice, please.