Reps. Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson refuse to rule out that the January 6 Committee will conclude Donald Trump committed a crime
The January 6 investigating committee say they have not ruled out concluding that Donald Trump committed a crime.
Speaking on the anniversary of the Capitol attack, Reps. Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, chair and vice chair of the select committee probing the insurrection, said there is 'no question' Trump's officials tried to undermine the election results.
Cheney told CNN's Jake Tapper: 'The president of the United States is responsible for ensuring the laws are faithfully executed; he's responsible for the security of the branches.
'So for the President to, either through his action or inaction, for example, attempt to impede or obstruct the counting of electoral votes, which is an official function of Congress, the committee is looking at that, whether what he did constitutes that kind of a crime.
'But certainly it's dereliction of duty.'
The January 6 investigating committee say they have not ruled out concluding that Donald Trump committed a crime (pictured giving a speech before the riots)
Liz Cheney, vice chair of the select committee probing the insurrection, said Trump's actions were at least a 'dereliction of duty'
Bennie Thompson added that the panel is looking into Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election
Thompson added that the panel is looking into Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
He said: 'Look, Donald Trump is an open book. Everyone watching this show, they have an opinion of it. He is not known to tell the truth, he is known to promote lies.
'But in this instance he invited people to Washington, on January 6, and at the end of his invitation he said it was "going to be wild". Little did we know it would be as wild as it was.'
The select committee is preparing for a series of public hearings which will address Trump's unproven election fraud claims.
In the summer, an interim report will follow before a final report in the fall just before the midterm elections.
The investigators want to establish a definitive narrative about the January 6 violence and impose legislation to prevent future attacks
President Trump's supporters climbed the walls of the Capitol to protest the election results
The investigators want to establish a definitive narrative about the January 6 violence and impose legislation to prevent future attacks.
After Cheney's comments, Mary Trump, the niece of the former president, said he 'must be feeling the walls close in'.
She told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell that her uncle may be waiting for the hammer to fall on him from both the committee and the Department of Justice.
'I don't want to overstate this, because we've seen Donald get away with so much, but even he at this point must be feeling the walls close in,' Mary, who has long been one of her uncle's highest profile critics said: 'If he has any sense, he would feel that way.'
She added that she believes the committee is doing 'an extraordinary job of putting the pieces together.'
Mary Trump, former President Trump's niece, spoke to Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC Thursday night
'There's no doubt in my mind, if they are discussing making such a referral (to prosecutors at the Department of Justice), they have everything nailed down,' she said, reacting to Cheney's announcement.
Yesterday, Cheney and her father, former vice president Dick, were the only two Republicans standing in the House chamber when Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a moment of silence in memory of the attack.
The 80-year-old Cheney served as a member of the House leadership before serving at vice president to George W. Bush. He stood next to his daughter on the otherwise abandoned right side of the aisle during the moment of silence.
Dick Cheney, who served as chair of the GOP conference and as party whip when he was in the House, took a shot at party leaders who have sidelined his daughter and said he doesn't recognize today's Republican party. He was forced to give up her own leadership post after she voted to impeach Donald Trump after January 6.
'It's not leadership that resembles any of the folks I knew when I was here for ten years,' he told reporters in the Capitol. He also criticized the party for their handling of the events after the Capitol riot and their 'failure to defend the constitution'.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney walks with his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wy., vice chair of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection, in the Capitol Rotunda at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. They were the only current or former Republican lawmakers present for a House moment of silence marking Jan. 6th
The only Republicans who took part in the moment of silence marking Jan. 6th were Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney
Asked if he was disappointed with how leaders treated his daughter, Cheney said: 'My daughter can take care of herself.'
Asked about the low GOP turnout at the moment of silence, he responded, Liz Cheney responded: 'I think it’s a reflection of where our party is. … very concerning.'
She added: 'I think the future of our country is at stake. And there are moments when we all have to come together in order to defend the Constitution.'
Asked about Trump's influence – he has been weighing in in primaries and runs far ahead of other in early 2024 polls, she said: 'Look, I think that a party who is enthralled to a cult of personality is a party that is dangerous for the country. And I think that we've really got to get to a place where we're focused on substance and on issues of policy.'
The event in the House on Thursday came after President Joe Biden tore into former President Donald Trump for watching TV while a mob stormed the Capitol on January 6, mocked his 'bruised ego' and accused him and his supporters of holding a 'dagger in the throat of democracy'.
In his most searing attack on his predecessor to date, Biden called Trump a 'defeated former president' and criticized him for 'refusing to accept he lost' the November 2020 in remarks on the one-year anniversary of the attack alongside Kamala Harris.
'We saw with our own eyes rioters menace these halls, threatening the life of the Speaker of the House. Literally erecting gallows to hang the vice president of the United States of America,' Biden recalled. 'What did we not see? We didn't see a former president, who just rallied the mob to attack, sitting in a private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours.'
Biden went after the MAGA mob saying: 'This wasn't a group of tourists. This was an armed insurrection.'
He did not mention his predecessor by name but - 16 times - referred to him as 'the former president,' accusing Trump of creating and spreading 'a web of lies about the 2020 election.'
Before Biden spoke, Kamala Harris compared January 6 to 9/11 and the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, wrongly called America the 'oldest democracy in the world' and slammed the 'extremists' who stormed the Capitol.
Trump called Biden's speech 'political theater' and a distraction for his failures in a statement shortly after Biden finished, and doubled down on his false claim he won the 2020 election and the result was rigged.
'Biden, who is destroying our Nation with insane policies of open Borders, corrupt Elections, disastrous energy policies, unconstitutional mandates, and devastating school closures, used my name today to try to further divide America,' Trump said in a series of statements.
Trump then, without evidence, claimed that in Georgia voters sold ballots for $10 a piece.
'Where did all those votes show up from in Georgia, where it was just revealed they sold ballots for $10 a piece, or in Pennsylvania, and Arizona, and Wisconsin,' Trump said, claiming the 2020 election was rigged.
'He [Biden] acts like he's aggrieved, but we're the ones who were aggrieved,' Trump continued.
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