President-elect Donald Trump praised the House Republicans for their report investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack after releasing their findings on Tuesday.
The House GOP concluded on Tuesday that they believe former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) should be prosecuted for her role in probing the riots as a member of the Jan. 6 Select Committee.
Trump reacted to the GOP’s new report in a 3 a.m. post on Truth Social, warning that Cheney could be in “trouble.” He also commended House Administration Committee Chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) for his work into the probe.
“Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble based on the evidence obtained by the subcommittee, which states that ‘numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, and these violations should be investigated by the FBI.’ Thank you to Congressman Barry Loudermilk on a job well done,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Cheney, who lost her primary bid for reelection in 2022, since she helped lead the committee. In an interview with NBC News earlier this month, Trump suggested that former members of the Jan. 6 Select Committee, should be jailed.
“For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said.
The new report alleged Cheney used the Jan. 6 Select Committee “as a tool to attack President Trump, at the cost of investigative integrity and Capitol security.”
She responded to the report’s findings in a statement on Tuesday.
“January 6th showed Donald Trump for who he really is – a cruel and vindictive man who allowed violent attacks to continue against our Capitol and law enforcement officers while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave,” Cheney said in a statement.
“Now, Chairman Loudermilk’s ‘Interim Report’ intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did,” she added.
The report calls for Cheney to be investigated for her role in the first probe into Jan. 6, including for working with former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Hutchinson made headlines during her testimony to the committee where she detailed Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cheney, in her own account in her book “Oath and Honor” of the committee’s work, had been crucial in meeting with Cassidy and worried for her safety as she decided to come forward.
Loudermilk’s panel concludes these actions are witness tampering and grounds for prosecution.
“Numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney,” the committee wrote in its conclusion. “These violations should be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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