Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol plans to reveal new details about that day and recommend legislation and criminal penalties for officials who failed to carry out their duties.
Ms. Cheney, who is one of two Republicans on the nine-member panel, said their first priority is to issue recommendations, but the panel also will look to punish officials who didn’t do enough to reel in the attack.
“We’re looking at things like do we need additional enhanced criminal penalties for the kind of supreme dereliction of duty that you saw with [President Donald] Trump when he refused to tell the mob to go home after he had provoked that attack on the Capitol,” she told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“So there will be legislative recommendations, and there certainly will be new information,” she said. “I have not learned a single thing since I have been on this committee that has made me less concerned or less worried about the gravity of the situation and the actions that President Trump took and also refused to take while the attack was underway.”
The panel has been calling in witnesses for interviews for months and plans to hold hearings in the spring.
Ms. Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois are the only Republicans on the panel. Their participation has been criticized by some on the right as an attempt to deride Mr. Trump, while others have praised them as defenders of democracy.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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