Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Tuesday revealed her father told her she was “in danger” Jan. 6, 2021, following former President Trump’s speech to supporters shortly before some members of the group rioted at the Capitol.
Speaking to a crowd near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump said: “We got to get rid of the weak congresspeople, the ones that aren’t any good, the Liz Cheneys of the world.”
Cheney on Tuesday told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, called her while she was in the cloakroom in the Capitol on Jan. 6 and informed her of Trump’s comments, which she hadn’t yet heard due to working on remarks.
“And he said to me, ‘You’re in danger,'” Cheney said Tuesday night. “And he said, ‘We need to talk about it. … Given that he’s just done this, that he’s just targeted you specifically, what that means for you going to the House floor, what that means for you, in terms of speaking against objections.”
Cheney said through the course of speaking with her father, it became clear she that “couldn’t not proceed because of this threat from Donald Trump.”
“But that’s … you can imagine sort of the emotion of the moment to have my dad calling me to say the president has just targeted me in a way that put … me at risk,” Cheney added.
The Washington Post reported in 2021 that Cheney did end up walking out to the House floor after the call with her father, with the intention of stopping Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 electoral college results. She soon heard rioters banging on the chamber’s doors and a shot fired, and moved to a secure location.
Cheney later came out and pinned the blame on Trump for allegedly inciting the riot. She served as vice chair of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 and became one of the most outspoken GOP critics of the former president.
Cheney’s remarks come on the heels of her new memoir titled “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning,” which was released Tuesday. The book chronicles her concerns over a second term with Trump in the White House and details her criticisms of the current Republican Party, both leading up to Jan. 6 and the party’s later response.
Cheney lost her seat in the House after three terms to Trump-backed challenger, Rep. Harriet Hageman, during the 2022 primaries in Wyoming, where Trump maintained large support among voters.
Despite departing Congress, Cheney has remained a vocal critic of both Trump and other Republican leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), both of whom she discusses in her memoir.