Liz Cheney: Impeachment was not a Partisan Matter
Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney said Wednesday that what her party thinks of the second impeachment of President Donald Trump is beside the point.
"This is a moment of real peril," Cheney said in a news conference with Wyoming reporters after the House voted for impeachment largely on party lines a week after a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.
She was among 10 Republicans who voted with Democrats for impeachment, and was most vocal of them about the need to remove Trump from office.
"It's a moment when all of us realize that our republic is very fragile, and that we all have an obligation to ensure we're doing everything that we're compelled to do everything by our oaths to ensure the survival of our republic," she said.
"The defense of our Constitution, the defense of this Republic, the defense of the peaceful transfer of power, ensuring that the Constitution and the constitutional duties we all have are carried out," Cheney said. "Those must never be partisan."
About 70% of the state voted for Trump in the November general election, and some Republicans are saying her vote to impeach him violated their political will.
Those politics come in second to the Constitution, she said.
"I view this vote is that it is not a partisan vote," Cheney said.
She recounted what vice president Mike Pence was doing on Wednesday, Jan. 6, and that at 2:20 p.m. and was evacuated from the Senate Chamber for his own safety.
At 2:24, Trump sent a Tweet that essentially called Pence a coward, she said.
By then, the mob was in the Capitol with weapons and also with zip ties to take hostages, she said. Five people died.
"It was an insurrection," Cheney said. "It was an attack on the very heart of our republic."
Some things must never be partisan, she added.
Cheney will continue to talk to people in Wyoming, but she won't compromise her stance, she said.
"The president of the United States inciting a mob to attack the Capitol and interrupt the democratic process, and then, while the violence played out, refusing to take steps to stop it is in my mind is 'high crimes and misdemeanors,'" Cheney said.
That phrase is from Section 4 Article Two of the Constitution about impeachment: "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
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