Liz Cheney Fires Back at Trump’s Inauguration Remarks
(Emily Elconin for The New York Times)
Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) sharply criticized President Donald Trump following his remarks to supporters in Emancipation Hall after his inauguration on Monday. Trump used the occasion to reiterate false claims about the January 6 investigation and to lash out at Cheney, who chaired the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
Speaking “off the cuff” to supporters who were unable to attend his formal speech in the Capitol Rotunda, Trump touched on topics he claimed he was advised not to include in his main address. “I was going to talk about the J6 hostages. But, you’ll be happy, because, you know, it’s action, not words that count. And you’re going to see a lot of action on the J6 hostages,” Trump said, referring to his promise to pardon or commute the sentences of Capitol rioters.
He continued by accusing the January 6 committee of destroying evidence. “What they did was, they destroyed and deleted all of the information, all of the hearings. Practically not a thing left,” Trump said, adding baseless claims that Nancy Pelosi refused his alleged offer of 10,000 soldiers to secure the Capitol.
“You don’t see any photos…They don’t show the people at the Capitol. But I was talking about that, I was going to talk about that. They said please don’t bring that up right now…I said, how about now? I’ll bring it up right now.”
Trump also directly attacked Cheney, calling her a “crying lunatic” and accusing her of favoring endless war. “Liz Cheney hated the concept of not going to war with everybody…What she did was incredible. They destroyed and deleted all of that information that went on for almost two years against Trump. And the reason they did was because it was all false,” Trump claimed.
Cheney responded on social media, calling out Trump’s continued falsehoods. “Trump’s remarks in the Capitol Visitor Center today were a reminder that neither lies nor the liar who tells them get better with age,” she wrote. Cheney emphasized that evidence collected by the January 6 committee remains publicly accessible, adding, “As a criminal defendant, Donald Trump has had access to all the transcripts for years.”
She concluded with a pointed reminder of Trump’s actions on January 6: “He sat in his dining room watching on television as his supporters attacked our Capitol and brutally assaulted law enforcement. For hours, he refused to instruct the mob to leave. The truth will never change.”
