Liz Cheney takes Center Stage in Jan. 6 Inquiry

Top Republican on the House panel investigating the savage attack on the Capitol is Liz Cheney, and her position in the historic hearings that begin Thursday night will effect her own political future, which may not include remaining in Congress.

Some in her party originally criticised then-President Trump for his handling of the siege on January 6, but they swiftly changed their tune. Cheney has become an outsider in the party she once revered because she refuses to stop publicly and persistently criticising Trump.

Liz Cheney takes Center Stage in Jan. 6 Inquiry

On January 6, as protesters stormed the Capitol building, Cheney was the third-highest ranking House Republican.

Former constitutional law professor and current Maryland Democrat Representative Jamie Raskin heard messages about the threat and approached Cheney on the House floor as he was preparing his comments to certify the 2020 election results.

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“When I received the picture of the insurrectionists carrying a Confederate battle flag, she was the first person I went to. “Liz, look, it looks like we’re under new control here,” I said as I crossed the aisle.

Raskin claimed that Cheney joined the chair of the House Democratic Caucus as they huddled in a secure location hours later to discuss next steps and determine whether it was safe to reconvene.

Raskin recalled how Ocasio-Cortez had stood up with Hakeem Jeffries in the safe room where they had all been huddled and declared her resolve to see to it that the ballots be counted.

Before Entering Congress, her work Included Advocating for Democratic Reforms in other Countries.

She was already a well-known political figure in her own right when she was elected to the House, having helped her father, Dick Cheney, who was George W. Bush’s running mate in 2000, during his campaign.

Later, during the Bush administration, she worked as a top advisor at the State Department, where she championed democracy promotion efforts in the Middle East.

Former Virginia representative Barbara Comstock, who worked with Cheney on the 2000 campaign and was a member of Congress during Cheney’s tenure as chairman of the Republican Conference, will bring a perspective informed by Cheney’s time at the State Department to the work of the January 6 committee.

She “comes at it from the position, you know, that we are an authority in the world on democracy and the importance of us taking this very seriously,” as Comstock put it.

Trump opponent Comstock argued that Cheney was prepared for this by growing up in a political family that frequently dealt with scandals of national prominence.

“She undoubtedly met both of her parents… been attacked many times for doing what she probably believed to be right, which makes it easy to criticise her now, I think.

In addition, Comstock said, “It’s not fun to do this, but I think she realises that when you have political capital, you know sometimes you have to spend it.”

Cheney Forged Coalitions in the House with Members who Held Radically different views than his Own.

Cheney has consistently conservative voting record in the House of Representatives. She agreed with Trump on 93 percent of his proposals.

Democratic California Representative Zoe Lofgren, a lawyer and member of the January 6 committee, did not know Cheney prior to working together on the probe.

Lofgren told NPR, “She’s very, very conservative, and I’m not. So there’s a lot of subjects we don’t agree on.” However, I have been quite pleased by her dedication to the truth, her intellectual honesty, and her legal acumen.

Cheney, along with 9 other House Republicans, startled her party on January 6 by supporting President Trump’s second impeachment, despite her opposition to the first attempt at impeachment this year.

Her devoted colleagues from the previous administration removed her from her leadership position because she refused to stop criticising Trump. The night before she was removed from office, Cheney defended her stance on the House floor by saying it was consistent with her party’s ideals.

According to her, “reverence for the rule of law” is the most conservative of conservative principles, and she proudly identified herself as a conservative Republican.

As a result of Cheney’s actions, she is now completely alone. Raskin said that he was present on the floor when Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene yelled at her, calling her a “traitor.” Raskin refused to echo Cheney’s retort, but acknowledged that it “wasn’t flattering” to Greene.

That the Anger hasn’t Fazed Cheney hasn’t Surprised Lofgren.

She doesn’t whine, and Lofgren gives her credit since “she understands what she’s entering into and she did what she thought was right.”

It was Raskin’s and Cheney’s shared legal experience that led to their friendship. He claims that Cheney made fun of his book’s thesis, in which he criticised the Supreme Court’s legal rationale in its 2000 election decision.

Raskin recounted that the first time they met, “she teased me about that, saying, “So you don’t think that my father should have been vice president?” and I replied, “Well, it’s nothing personal, but I think that choice was completely bogus.”

“I remember the very first time she took me to her office and I walked in and there was this huge Soviet-sized portrait of Dick Cheney up on the wall and I said, ‘Liz, I’ve got one of those in my office too!’ You know, and she started cracking up,” he recalls, recalling how their shared ability to laugh at their political differences bonded them.

Trump has made Cheney a Primary Target for the Upcoming Midterm Elections.

Last month, the former president went to Wyoming to campaign for Cheney’s primary opponent, Harriet Hageman of the Republican Party.

He told his audience that “Liz Cheney has thrown in her lot with the radical left more than any RINO [Republican In Name Only] in America.”

Cheney did not name Trump specifically in her video announcement for another term, but she did make her opposition to him a central element of her message.

Cheney has pledged to “say so” when he realises his wrongdoing. I won’t waver, give in to intimidation, or back down.

Despite Trump’s overwhelming victory in Wyoming in 2020, Cheney is widely predicted to lose to Hageman in the Republican primary election this August due to domestic opposition.

However, Comstock is certain that she can be reelected and maintain her prominence in the Republican Party.

I believe there are numerous prospects for her, and I am confident that her future will be successful in any endeavour she does, as expressed by Comstock. That she is prepared to face the flak for standing up for what is right and putting the record straight makes me especially happy.

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Conclusion

It is possible that Cheney’s party will regain the House majority in the upcoming midterm elections.

Even if she is reelected, she will be a minority in a party dominated by supporters of the outgoing president.