Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican congresswoman who went from a leadership role in her party to an outcast, rebuked her GOP colleagues who back former President Donald Trump.
Cheney was one of 17 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year and is among two GOP members serving on the Jan. 6 Commission. Republicans removed Cheney from her role as chairperson of the House Republican Conference.
Her rebuke of Trump came from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. late Wednesday.
“The reality that we face today as Republicans, as we think about the choice in front of us, we have to choose because Republicans cannot both be loyal to Donald Trump and loyal to the Constitution.” she said.
On Tuesday, Cheney led the questioning of Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as an aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
“American had the chance to meet one of these young women yesterday, Miss Cassidy Hutchinson,” Cheney said. “Her superiors and many years older, a number of them are hiding behind executive privilege, anonymity and intimidation that her bravery and her patriotism yesterday were awesome to behold."
Hutchinson claimed that Trump demanded to be taken to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 during the counting of Electoral College electors, knowing that his supporters were armed.
“At this moment, we're confronting a domestic threat that we have never faced before,” Cheney said. “And that is a former president who is attempting to unravel the foundations of our constitutional republic. And he is aided by Republican leaders and elected officials who made themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man."
Cheney’s outspokenness about Trump that caused her to lose her GOP leadership role also could force her out of the House.
Polling shows Cheney is trailing Harriet Hageman, a Trump-backed Republican, in the GOP primary for Wyoming’s only House seat.
