Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Sunday said she sees the potential for “multiple criminal offenses” related to former President Trump’s actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Cheney, the vice chair of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot, which last week formally subpoenaed Trump, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd that she believes there is evidence of criminal conduct.
“You may not send an armed mob to the Capitol, you may not sit for 187 minutes and refuse to stop the attack while it’s underway. You may not send out a tweet that incites further violence,” Cheney said. “So we’ve been very clear about a number of different criminal offenses that are likely at issue here.”
The Jan. 6 panel wrapped up what is expected to be its final public hearing earlier this month. Committee members voted unanimously to subpoena Trump, who has called the committee’s work politically-motivated but who has not clarified whether or not he would appear before them.
Throughout the House committee’s series of hearings particularly over the summer lawmakers painted a case that Trump was likely responsible and potentially culpable for the attack on the Capitol, based on testimony by several former White House aides and officials.
The panel argued the mob of pro-Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol was the culmination of Trump’s schemes to stay in power, including his pressuring of state electors, former Vice President Mike Pence and the Department of Justice (DOJ), all of which inevitably failed.
In the final hearing, lawmakers showed testimony that claimed Trump knew he lost the election and yet pushed to stay in power anyway, and also claimed he knew there was the potential for violence on Jan. 6 and still urged supporters to march on the Capitol.
Cheney has said the committee laid out clearly what Trump must do to comply with the subpoena.
The panel does not have the power to charge Trump with a crime, as that decision will be made by the DOJ, which is also investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack.
Cheney told Todd on NBC that while she can’t weigh in on or influence the DOJ’s case, “it’s very important for everybody to recognize” the “set of facts” around Trump’s actions.
“If the Department of Justice determines that they have the evidence that we believe is there and they make a decision not to prosecute,” she said, “that really calls into question whether or not we’re a nation of laws.”