Global Courant 2023-05-29 01:31:03
Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney called out her Republican colleagues in an opening speech on Sunday, accusing them of urging her to tell lies after the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cheney, addressing Colorado College graduates, said, “After the 2020 election and the January 6 attack, my fellow Republicans wanted me to lie. They wanted me to say the 2020 election was stolen, that the January 6 attack was no big deal, and that Donald Trump wasn’t dangerous.”
“I had to choose between lying or losing my position in the House leadership,” said the former Republican lawmaker, who graduated from Colorado College in 1988.
‘A love and reverence for freedom’
Cheney reflected on leading a prayer among her colleagues at the end of her role as president of the House Republican Conference.
“As House Republicans bowed our heads in the auditorium below the Capitol, I prayed that we would know love and reverence for freedom. I prayed that we would remember that democratic systems can unravel and suddenly unravel and that when they do , they are gone forever,” she said.
Cheney served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and rose to the No. 3 GOP leadership position in the lower chamber of Congress. She voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the uprising at the Capitol and was an outspoken president of the former leader.
Cheers were heard from the audience during Cheney’s remarks, along with some boos.
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Cheney was also the Vice Chairman of the now-disbanded House select committee investigates the assassination attempt on the Capitol. The commission claimed in its final report that Trump was the “central cause” behind the riot that sought to interrupt Congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election.
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In 2022, Cheney lost a primary to Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, who now represents Wyoming’s only House district.
Before Trump’s first town hall with CNN earlier this month, Cheney aired an attack ad against the former president, targeting his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Contributing: Ken Tran, USA TODAY; Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Liz Cheney calls Donald Trump, Republicans on January 6 in speech
