flip1948 Loc: Hamden, CT

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-panel-enough-evidence-refer-trump-criminal-charges-cheney-says-rcna23778

By Christina Zhao

The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has enough evidence to refer President Donald Trump for criminal charges, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said Sunday.

“It’s absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing — what a number of people around him were doing — that they knew it was unlawful. They did it anyway,” Cheney, the vice chair and one of two Republicans on the committee, said on CNN's "State of the Union" when host Jake Tapper asked her whether the panel had enough evidence to make a criminal referral for Trump. Cheney said the panel has not made a decision about moving forward with the referral.

The New York Times reported that the committee has concluded that it has enough evidence to make a criminal referral but that its leaders were divided over whether to do so.

"I think what we have seen is a massive and well-organized and well-planned effort that used multiple tools to try to overturn an election," Cheney said. The committee has "got a tremendous amount of testimony and documents that I think very, very clearly demonstrate the extent of the planning and the organization and the objective."

She added: "The objective was absolutely to try to stop the kind of electoral votes, to try to interfere with that official proceeding. And it’s absolutely clear that they knew what they were doing was wrong."

She referred to a ruling in a civil suit involving the committee last month, in which a federal judge found that based on evidence, Trump most likely "attempted to obstruct the joint session of Congress" on the day of the attack, which would be a crime.

“The illegality of the plan was obvious,” U.S. District Judge David Carter wrote of Trump and lawyer John Eastman’s plan to have then-Vice President Mike Pence determine the results of the 2020 election. “Every American — and certainly the president of the United States — knows that in a democracy, leaders are elected, not installed. With a plan this ‘BOLD,’ President Trump knowingly tried to subvert this fundamental principle."

The Jan. 6 panel made similar allegations in a court filing in the case last month, saying it had a "good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States."

The Jan. 6 panel made similar allegations in a court filing in the case last month, saying it had a "good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States."

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

Exactly, what does your comment have to do with the subject matter?

btbg

You know the old saying, "the best offense is a good defense." That's what is going on here. They know that the Biden's are in trouble, so go after a political enemy to draw attention away from the real crime. That's what the two stories have to do with each other.

Some of Trump's followers are guilty of crimes. But, Trump is on public record exactly what he said, and what he said is not a crime. It isn't even particularly inflammatory.

What better way to deflect from the crimes that Biden has committed than to accuse Trump of serious wrongdoing?

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

"Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has become an invaluable defender of democracy, more pointed than many in the media and even the White House. In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, she illustrated how she effectively combines a grasp of the facts, understanding of the law and firm moral conviction.

First, she underscores this is about a pattern of behavior for which there is ample evidence of defeated former president Donald Trump’s corrupt intent. The question of intent has vexed outside commentators with far less access to evidence. Cheney confidently explained, “It’s absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing, what a number of people around him were doing — that they knew it was unlawful.” Cheney added: “They did it anyway. I think you certainly saw that in the decision that was issued by Judge [David O.] Carter a few weeks ago, where he concluded that it was more likely than not that the president of the United States was engaged in criminal activity.”

Other than some John Eastman documents, Carter had only publicly available evidence. However, Cheney has seen a mound of documents and heard from hundreds of witnesses not only of the coup but of Trump’s connection to the violence that occurred on Jan. 6. “I think what we have seen is a massive and well-organized and well-planned effort that used multiple tools to try to overturn an election,” she said. She pointed to the plea agreement of Proud Boys member Charles Donohoe, which lays out the chilling plan for violence.

Regarding the call to come to the Capitol, she recalled that “Donald Trump tweeted out that message: ‘Be there. Be wild.’” She added that “the day after that message, the organization and the planning started, and that they understood, that they knew that they were going to attempt to use violence to try to stop the transfer of power. That is the definition of an insurrection. And it is absolutely chilling.”

Second, Cheney showed how to debunk the notion this is a partisan witch hunt. She brushed aside the notion that the question of referral is overblown: “The committee is working in a really collaborative way to discuss these issues, as we are with all of the issues we’re addressing.” Bursting the media narrative hyping conflict on the House select committee, she explained, “I think that it is the single most collaborative committee on which I have ever served." The committee with Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) is bipartisan, no matter how strenuously Republicans claim it is not.

Third, the investigation is possible because of the slew of Republicans cooperating. Republicans — after filibustering an independent commission and pulling members who had been accepted to serve on the committee — keep characterizing this as a Democratic witch hunt. It behooves the media and Democrats, as Cheney has done, to remind Americans that the evidence is coming from Republicans, including Trump family members.

After praising Ivanka Trump’s testimony, Cheney stressed, “I’ve been incredibly grateful and, frankly, moved by the many, many people who have come before us because they know it’s their patriotic responsibility and duty to tell us about what happened and to make sure that it never happens again.” These are people in the Trump administration, people who at one time supported his election and reelection. Republicans’ accusation of partisanship should be rebuffed at every turn.

Finally, far better than the administration, Cheney can tie Ukraine’s fight for democracy with our own. She had this exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper:
TAPPER: House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is in the region. I think he’s in Poland. He just issued a statement in support of democracy and the individuals fighting for a free and democratic Ukraine.

And I’m just wondering if you feel that there’s any disconnect there, given the fact that he has not exactly been supportive of your efforts to get to the bottom of the attempt to overturn the election in the United States.

CHENEY: Well, what I would say is that what's happening today in Ukraine is a reminder that democracy is fragile, that democracy must be defended, and that each one of us in a position to do so has an obligation to do so.

Clearly, I think Leader McCarthy failed to do that, failed to put his oath to the Constitution ahead of his own personal political gains. And I think that, at the end of the day, each one of us is responsible for our own actions and activity.

But, if we don’t stand for our Constitution, if we don’t stand for democracy, if we don’t stand for freedom, if we — if we forget that our oath to our Constitution is an oath to a document, it’s not an oath to an individual, we have got to always remember that, or our democracy is in peril.

That message cannot be repeated enough, especially in the midst of Republicans’ effort to whitewash their complicity in Trump’s nonstop devotion to Russian President Vladimir Putin, including Republicans’ near-unanimous exoneration of Trump for extorting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky).

Defenders of democracy would do well to amplify Cheney’s message — and follow her lead. No one is more essential in the quest to hold Trump accountable for his treachery."

Jennifer Rubin

DukeTarHeel Loc: NC's "Research Triangle"

I'd vote a Romney - Cheney ticket in a heartbeat.

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

Then you would loose.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Cheney will become irrelevant come November.

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

I guess you forgot about primaries.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

Even I would vote that way... if you would let me have a say.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

"From 2017 to 2021, Cheney voted in line with Trump's position 92.9% of the time, supporting him more consistently in House votes than even his former chief of staff Mark Meadows.[76] In 2019, according to the New York Times, Cheney publicly feuded with Rand Paul over who was "Trumpier". According to The Atlantic, she was a "loyal Trumpist" and helped build "the party of Trump".

Whether she loses her seat or not in November, she will be a part of history as one of the few conservative leaders in Congress who had a spine, and wasn't afraid to oppose Trump and his unethical attempts to overthrow a democratic election. She is a leader in every sense of the word--who saw wrong and risked her career to do the right thing.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Excuse me Liz Cheney, when she said, "The objective was absolutely to try to stop the count of electoral votes,...". That was a lie and she knows it. It was to legally stop the counting of still legally contested votes.

In fact, the official count of Electoral votes had already been halted before any incursion into the Capitol. I watched the proceedings of the Electoral Vote count in the joint session of Congress on my TV. And when AZ was called, House Rep. Paul Goscar objected to the count and his objection was in writing and signed by a Senator, Ted Cruz.

VP Mike Pence immediately stopped the count and was supposed to call for a debate on the objection before the count could resume. At that point the session was halted.

Don't these liars know we have memories and video evidence?

The count would never have resumed if AZ's votes were ruled in debate that they would have to be sent back.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

So Cheney says that Trump was extorting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by urging him to do the right thing and investigate Hunter Biden's influence peddling dealings with Joe Biden in Ukraine?

Cheney and you still want to victimize and persecute Trump's whistle-blowing that was right all along? And if Trump's request would have happened it would have changed this sad course of history under the Biden's which we are going through now into one of continued peace and prosperity.

Need I remind you that this pathetic impeachment of Trump was overturned and why shouldn't the whistle-blower of the phone call who was wrong be prosecuted?

idaholover Loc: Nampa ID

Don’t confuse them with facts