Mar 20, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Liz Cheney: Trump Jan. 6 actions were "dereliction of duty"

The Jan. 6 committee is considering recommending enhanced criminal penalties for the "kind of supreme dereliction of duty that you saw with President Trump," Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

Driving the news: Cheney, who serves as the vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, referenced Trump's refusal to "tell the mob to go home after he had provoked that attack on the Capitol."

What she's saying: Cheney said there will "certainly" be new information coming from the committee.

"I can tell you I have not learned a single thing since I have been on this committee that has made me less concerned or less worried about the gravity of the situation and the actions that President Trump took and also refused to take while the attack was underway."
— Rep. Liz Cheney on "Meet the Press"

Cheney said she doesn't regret voting to acquit Trump during his first impeachment trial — which came after a phone call in which he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Biden family.

  • The Jan. 6 attack is "fundamentally different" from the circumstances surrounding the first impeachment trial, Cheney said. "We all watched that unfold in real-time. We all lived through that attack."
  • "But I will say that the Jan. 6 committee is very much focused on lessons learned from that first impeachment and very much focused on making sure the American people have all of the facts and the truth about what happened."
Go deeper