Liz Cheney

Jake Tapper asked Cheney on CNN: “Is that true? Do you have enough evidence to refer Trump for criminal charges?”

Cheney replied: “Well, we have not made a decision about referrals on the committee. I think that it is absolutely the case, 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. They did it anyway.” Actually, that’s not clear at all. Cheney conveniently ignores the fact that in his speech to protestors on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump said: “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

Peaceful protest is not unlawful in the United States, and there is nothing else that the Jan. 6 Committee can reasonably charge Trump with calling for or inciting. But “reasonably” is the key word in that sentence; the Jan. 6 Committee is made up of pillars of Washington establishment politics, all of whom have a burning hatred for Trump; there is no indication that they have any interest in being reasonable.

Cheney, however, found the criminal conduct elsewhere. She continued: “I think you certainly saw that in the decision that was issued by Judge 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.” She was referring to U.S. District Court Judge David Carter’s statement in late March: “Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021,” when he pressed claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich called Carter’s decision an “absurd and baseless ruling by a Clinton-appointed Judge in California.”

There is more. Read the rest here.