Cheney named vice chair of Jan. 6 committee
Rep. Liz Cheney, RWyo., on Thursday was named vice chair of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, prompting fresh calls for her ouster from the Republican caucus.
Cheney, a staunch critic of former President Donald Trump, will assist chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., on the Democratic-led panel, which has signaled it will aggressively probe the roles played by Trump and his allies in inciting the attack.
“Every member of this committee is dedicated to conducting a non-partisan, professional, and thorough investigation of all the relevant facts regarding January 6th and the threat to our Constitution we faced that day,” Cheney said in a statement accepting the leadership role.
Cheney vowed to back the probe’s effort to get to the bottom of the Jan. 6 attack, when thousands of Trump supporters overwhelmed police and marauded through the Capitol in hopes of blocking Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election win.
“We will not be deterred by threats or attempted obstruction and we will not rest until our task is complete,” Cheney said.
The announcement sparked outrage from Cheney’s fellow Republicans, who said she and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois should be booted out of the GOP congressional caucus for accepting slots on the select committee.
Once a rising conservative star, Cheney was already voted out of her previous role as No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives for refusing to tone down her public criticism of Trump, the de facto leader of the party.
“Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger must be thrown out of the GOP conference!” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote on Twitter.
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona derided Cheney and Kinzinger as “two spies for the Democrats” because of their harsh criticism of Trump.
The vice chair position would normally be reserved for a member of the majority party. It gives Cheney a top role on the panel after House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy decided not to appoint any of his members to the committee.
Thompson recently issued broad requests to technology and telecommunications platforms to preserve communications related to the attack, including by some GOP lawmakers.
McCarthy, of California, angrily countered by warning the companies to ignore the requests, or pay the price whenever Republicans regain power.
The aggressive first steps suggest the panel plans to relentlessly probe what Trump did to promote the attack and his failure to do anything to stop it in real time.
In July, the panel held an emotional first hearing with four police officers who battled the insurrectionists and were injured and verbally abused as the rioters broke into the building and repeated Trump’s lies about widespread election fraud.