Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), vice chair of the Jan. 6 Select Committee, condemned former President Trump’s election steal scheme that led to the deadly Capitol insurrection as she accepted the John F. Kennedy Profile In Courage Award on Sunday night.
In her speech, Cheney noted that every former president “except one” honored the “sacred obligation to defend the peaceful transfer of power.”
Cheney then issued a dire warning about an unprecedented “threat” the former president still poses in his efforts to delegitimize the democratic process with his election fraud falsehoods.
“As we face a threat we have never faced before — a former president attempting to unravel our constitutional republic — at this moment we must all summon the courage to stand against that,” Cheney said.
Cheney also urged against allowing “partisan politics” to stand in the way of democracy.
“The question for every one of us is in this time of testing, will we do our duty, will we defend our Constitution, will we stand for truth, will we put duty to our oath above partisan politics?” Cheney said.
“Or will we look away from danger, ignore the threat, embrace the lies and enable the liar?” Cheney continued.
Cheney’s remarks come weeks before the committee investigating the events surrounding Jan. 6 is scheduled to hold several public hearings in June, according to reports.
Committee members have told reporters they aim to outline the narrative of the Capitol insurrection as Trump and his allies unlawfully attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
The first hearing will reportedly function as a birds-eye view summary of the committee’s investigative work over the course of the last 10 months, focusing on key findings the panel plans to dig into in further detail at later hearing dates, all reportedly set to take place during primetime hours.
“We looked at, essentially, the comprehensive story that we have to tell, and we divided it up into chapters that will allow for the unfolding of the narrative, and we hope that it will make sense to people,” another committee member, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), told CBS News last month.
Watch Cheney’s remarks below:
