Rep. Liz Cheney says presidential daughter Ivanka Trump twice urged former President Trump to do something to stop the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
The new details from the Wyoming Republican lawmaker regarding Ms. Trump’s actions on that day indicate the House select committee on the Jan. 6 attack is unearthing information despite the fact that some of Mr. Trump’s closest allies have heeded the former president’s demand that they refuse to cooperate with the probe.
“We have firsthand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to ’please stop this violence,’” Ms. Cheney said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “Any man who would not do so, any man who would provoke a violent assault on the Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes, any man who would watch television as police officers were being beaten, as his supporters were invading the Capitol of the United States is clearly unfit for future office, clearly can never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again.”
Mr. Trump is flirting with running for president again in 2024 and polls show he would start out as the clear frontrunner in the GOP nomination race. Ms. Cheney has faced sharp criticism from within her own party as one of the few House Republicans cooperating with the select committee’s probe.
The House panel also received firsthand testimony that Mr. Trump was watching the attack from the dining room next to the Oval Office.
Ms. Cheney said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also was pleading with Mr. Trump to tell the mob to stop, and said it is “important for the American people to understand how dangerous Donald Trump was.”
SEE ALSO: Democrats, Republicans split on whether Trump to blame for Jan. 6 riot: poll
Ms. Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois are the sole Republicans on the Jan. 6 committee, making them traitors in the eyes of many Trump supporters.
Mr. McCarthy pulled his picks for the committee after Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi set a new precedent by blocking a pair of his picks — Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana — for the special committee.
Ms. Cheney, meanwhile, has refused to back off her criticism of Mr. Trump and his stolen election claims.
As a result, she was stripped of her post as House Conference chair, the Wyoming GOP has voted to stop recognizing her as a Republican, and Mr. Trump has endorsed rival Harriet Hageman in the GOP primary this year.
Ms. Cheney has stood her ground, arguing the party must put Mr. Trump in the rearview mirror.
“I think that the policies that President Biden has adopted are the wrong ones for this country,” Ms. Cheney said. “I think we need conservative, principled leadership, but the Republican Party has to make a choice: We can either be loyal to our Constitution or loyal to Donald Trump, but we cannot be both.”
SEE ALSO: Rep. Bennie Thompson won’t rule out Jan. 6 criminal referral against Trump
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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