Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has become an invaluable defender of democracy, more pointed than many in the media and even the White House. In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, she illustrated how she effectively combines a grasp of the facts, understanding of the law and firm moral conviction.
First, she underscores this is about a pattern of behavior for which there is ample evidence of defeated former president Donald Trump’s corrupt intent. The question of intent has vexed outside commentators with far less access to evidence. Cheney confidently explained, “It’s absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing, what a number of people around him were doing — that they knew it was unlawful.” Cheney added: “They did it anyway. I think you certainly saw that in the decision that was issued by Judge [David O.] Carter a few weeks ago, where he concluded that it was more likely than not that the president of the United States was engaged in criminal activity.”
Other than some John Eastman documents, Carter had only publicly available evidence. However, Cheney has seen a mound of documents and heard from hundreds of witnesses not only of the coup but of Trump’s connection to the violence that occurred on Jan. 6. “I think what we have seen is a massive and well-organized and well-planned effort that used multiple tools to try to overturn an election,” she said. She pointed to the plea agreement of Proud Boys member Charles Donohoe, which lays out the chilling plan for violence. Regarding the call to come to the Capitol, she recalled that “Donald Trump tweeted out that message: ‘Be there. Be wild.’” She added that “the day after that message, the organization and the planning started, and that they understood, that they knew that they were going to attempt to use violence to try to stop the transfer of power. That is the definition of an insurrection. And it is absolutely chilling.”
Second, Cheney showed how to debunk the notion this is a partisan witch hunt. She brushed aside the notion that the question of referral is overblown: “The committee is working in a really collaborative way to discuss these issues, as we are with all of the issues we’re addressing.” Bursting the media narrative hyping conflict on the House select committee, she explained, “I think that it is the single most collaborative committee on which I have ever served." The committee with Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) is bipartisan, no matter how strenuously Republicans claim it is not.
Third, the investigation is possible because of the slew of Republicans cooperating. Republicans — after filibustering an independent commission and pulling members who had been accepted to serve on the committee — keep characterizing this as a Democratic witch hunt. It behooves the media and Democrats, as Cheney has done, to remind Americans that the evidence is coming from Republicans, including Trump family members.
After praising Ivanka Trump’s testimony, Cheney stressed, “I’ve been incredibly grateful and, frankly, moved by the many, many people who have come before us because they know it’s their patriotic responsibility and duty to tell us about what happened and to make sure that it never happens again.” These are people in the Trump administration, people who at one time supported his election and reelection. Republicans’ accusation of partisanship should be rebuffed at every turn.
Finally, far better than the administration, Cheney can tie Ukraine’s fight for democracy with our own. She had this exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper:
TAPPER: House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is in the region. I think he’s in Poland. He just issued a statement in support of democracy and the individuals fighting for a free and democratic Ukraine.And I’m just wondering if you feel that there’s any disconnect there, given the fact that he has not exactly been supportive of your efforts to get to the bottom of the attempt to overturn the election in the United States.CHENEY: Well, what I would say is that what's happening today in Ukraine is a reminder that democracy is fragile, that democracy must be defended, and that each one of us in a position to do so has an obligation to do so.Clearly, I think Leader McCarthy failed to do that, failed to put his oath to the Constitution ahead of his own personal political gains. And I think that, at the end of the day, each one of us is responsible for our own actions and activity.But, if we don’t stand for our Constitution, if we don’t stand for democracy, if we don’t stand for freedom, if we — if we forget that our oath to our Constitution is an oath to a document, it’s not an oath to an individual, we have got to always remember that, or our democracy is in peril.
That message cannot be repeated enough, especially in the midst of Republicans’ effort to whitewash their complicity in Trump’s nonstop devotion to Russian President Vladimir Putin, including Republicans’ near-unanimous exoneration of Trump for extorting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky).
Defenders of democracy would do well to amplify Cheney’s message — and follow her lead. No one is more essential in the quest to hold Trump accountable for his treachery.
"Opinion" - Google News
April 11, 2022 at 09:03PM
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Opinion | Liz Cheney is the most skillful advocate for democracy - The Washington Post
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