Cheney Writes Op-Ed in Wall Street Journal: ‘We Won’t Be Intimidated’

Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who is the Vice Chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol, has written an Op-Ed in The Wall Street Journal that details the work that the committee is doing, as well as the responsibility that her colleagues in the Senate have to "support and defend the Constitution."

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In the article, dated February 10, 2022, Cheney wrote that the committee will focus on facts, not rhetoric, and that they will nevertheless persist despite criticism from Republicans.

Cheney began the article by writing about her great-great-grandfather, who re-enlisted in the Union Army in 1863. Cheney wrote that her relative swore to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic." Cheney asserted that those who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 were most assuredly enemies.

Cheney then brought up the words of former Vice-President Mike Pence, who last week stated that former president Donald Trump was 'wrong' to insist that Pence or anybody else had the power to 'overturn' the presidential election.

"What Mr. Trump had insisted that Mr. Pence do on Jan. 6 was not only un-American, it was unconstitutional and illegal," Congresswoman Cheney wrote.

Then, Cheney gave a brief lesson in the Constitution, noting that Congress doesn't select the president; the states do.

Following that, Cheney rebuked her Republican colleagues; those who support Trump and the ideals that he proclaims.

"Republicans used to advocate for fidelity to the rule of law and the plain text of the Constitution," Cheney wrote. "In 2020, Mr. Trump convinced many to abandon those principles. He falsely claimed that the election was stolen from him because of widespread fraud."

Though it has already been confirmed by election officials, multiple times, Cheney wrote that the Select Committee will prove that "no foreign power corrupted American's voting machines, and no massive secret fraud changed the election outcome."

Cheney wrote that despite election officials, and Trump's own campaign officials, confirming there was no voter fraud, "Mr. Trump ignored the rulings of the courts and launched a massive campaign to mislead the public."

She also mentioned that Trump's lies have resulted in real consequences for his own team members, including former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had his license to practice law suspended due to the lies he told as Trump's lawyer during his time in the White House.

These alleged lies that Trump told led to an attack from his followers on the Capitol. These followers entered the Capitol building on January 6 to subvert the election process; some of them paid with their lives. 

"The Jan. 6 investigation isn’t only about the inexcusable violence of that day: It is also about fidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law, and whether elected representatives believe in those things or not," Cheney wrote. "One member of the House Freedom Caucus warned the White House in the days before Jan. 6 that the president’s plans would drive 'a stake in the heart of the federal republic.' That was exactly right."

Congresswoman Cheney stated that those who oppose the January 6 Select Committee and the truth they are attempting to find, have resorted to attacking the process, calling it tainted and political. Cheney, however, said the Committee is committed to facts, not rhetoric, and she said they will present those facts no matter what.

"My friend the late Charles Krauthammer once said: 'The lesson of our history is that the task of merely maintaining strong and sturdy the structures of a constitutional order is unending, the continuing and ceaseless work of every generation,'" Cheney concluded. "Every generation of Americans has fulfilled its duty to support and defend the Constitution. That responsibility now falls to us."

The full text of Congresswoman Cheney's article can be found here.