Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) called on her party Sunday to move on from former President Donald Trump, saying in an interview on “Face The Nation” on CBS that he’s peddling his old lies and continuing to wage “war on the Constitution.”
In an incendiary speech Saturday at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for the Republican National Committee, Trump yet again baselessly claimed the election had been illegally stolen from him. He attacked former Vice President Mike Pence for lacking “the courage” to block voters’ choice of Joe Biden as president. He expressed no regrets about, nor remorse for, the deadly Capitol riot, The Washington Post reported.
“The former president is using the same language that he knows provoked violence on January 6th,” Cheney said of the speech. “As a party, we need to be focused on the future. We need to be focused on embracing the Constitution — not embracing insurrection.”
The “election wasn’t stolen,” she flatly declared. “There was a judicial process in place. If you attack the judicial process and you attack the rule of law, you aren’t defending the Constitution. You’re at war with the Constitution,” the lawmaker added. “For us as a party going forward, we have to embrace the Constitution and we also have to put forward positive solutions.”
Cheney also spoke about fellow Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), calling the sex trafficking allegations against him “sickening.”
Cheney said she would await the results of various investigations of his actions concerning possible sex trafficking of an underage girl, and concerns about possible ethics violations. But she added that as a mother of daughters, “the charges certainly are sickening.” Gaetz has denied all allegations against him.
Gaetz bashed Cheney early this year after she voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection at the Capitol, and held a rally in her state calling for her ouster.
Cheney wasn’t the only Republican upset by Trump’s speech.
“Anything that’s divisive is a concern and is not helpful for us fighting the battles in Washington and at the state level,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) referred in a tweet to Trump’s attack in his speech on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as a “dumb son of a bitch.” Kinzinger noted sarcastically: “Classy as always.” He added: “I remember when my fellow Republicans would have condemned this stuff but, that was a whole four years ago.”