Dems spooked by Cheney's focus on Trump for Jan. 6 report
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Liz Cheney at a Michigan campaign event in early November. Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Look for a voluminous final report from the House Jan. 6 committee in mid-December — I'm told to expect around 1,000 pages.
Why it matters: The committee has exceeded expectations, hearing by hearing — turning up constant new information about one of American history's most consequential, but also most documented, events.
- Committee members will hold a presentation event, as they synthesize their findings for history, ahead of the Republican takeover of the House majority in early January.
🔎 The intrigue: Fifteen former and current Jan. 6 committee staffers tell The Washington Post they're angered and disillusioned by Vice Chair Liz Cheney's "push to focus the report primarily on former president Donald Trump."
- These sources "have bristled at the committee morphing into what they have come to view as the vehicle for the outgoing Wyoming lawmaker’s political future," The Post reports on today's A1, "Jan. 6 panel report is the subject of dispute."
- The sources also have "expressed concerns that important findings unrelated to Trump will not become available to the American public."
🔥 Jeremy Adler, spokesman for Congresswoman Cheney, said in a statement to The Post and Axios: "Donald Trump is the first president in American history to attempt to overturn an election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power. So, damn right Liz is 'prioritizing' understanding what he did and how he did it and ensuring it never happens again.
- "Some staff have submitted sub-par material for the report that reflects long-held liberal biases about federal law enforcement, Republicans, and sociological issues outside the scope of the Select Committee's work.
- "She won't sign onto any 'narrative' that suggests Republicans are inherently racist — or smears men and women in law enforcement, or suggests every American who believes God has blessed America is a white supremacist.
- "Rep. Cheney has been clear the committee report will cover every aspect of the attack of Jan. 6, including the security response, and the role of domestic violent extremist groups, but they will not blame federal law enforcement officers for Donald Trump's attack on our democracy."
🥊 Reality check: The hearings focused on Trump. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the report will, too.
