Cheney: Hearings May Be 'Most Important Thing I Ever Do'

Jan. 6 panel has a prime-time public hearing Thursday
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 21, 2022 2:35 PM CDT
Cheney: Hearings May Be 'Most Important Thing I Ever Do'
Sen. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The Jan. 6 panel will be back in session Thursday with a prime-time hearing focusing on what former President Trump did—and didn't—do on the day of the riot. As NBC News reports, Thursday's 8pm Eastern session will focus on 187 minutes in particular, a stretch lasting from Trump's speech to supporters to his tweet encouraging them to go home. In advance, the New York Times is out with an interview of panel Vice Chair Liz Cheney, who has played a prominent role in the hearings and thus earned the scorn of Trump himself. As the story notes, Cheney is on track to pay a political price, with a Trump-backed challenger expected to defeat her in next month's GOP primary in Wyoming.

“I don’t look at it through a political lens,” Cheney tells the newspaper. “I look at it through the angle of: People need to understand how dangerous he is and how unfit for office he is.” At another point, she adds: “I believe this is the most important thing I’ve ever done professionally, and maybe the most important thing I ever do.” Cheney also draws a personal connection to the riot, likening images of Secret Service ushering Mike Pence to safety to ones of her father, former VP Dick Cheney, being similarly escorted on 9/11.

“Every time I see it, it brings to mind the image of Jimmy Scott, the Secret Service agent who evacuated my dad down the steps,” Cheney says. “That evacuation was because al-Qaeda was targeting Washington, DC, and Mike Pence was evacuated because a violent, armed crowd that Donald Trump had sent to the Capitol was invading the Capitol.” (More Liz Cheney stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X