Cheney Goes on Sunday Shows to Discuss Jan. 6 Committee

According to Representative Liz Cheney's press office, she went on ABC's "This Week" and CBS's "Face the Nation" to talk about the work being done on the January 6 committee that Cheney sits on as vice-chair.

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The House of Representatives voted to form a commission on June 30, 2021, to look into the events of Jan. 6, after Republicans in the Senate voted against forming a bi-partisan commission.

While the original commission would have ended its work at the end of 2021, the current commission doesn't have an end date in mind but could release some findings this year.

Cheney said based on testimony they obtained, former President Donald Trump committed a dereliction of his duty by not doing more to stop the riots that were happening on Jan. 6.

"The committee has firsthand testimony now that he was sitting in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the attack on television as the assault on the Capitol occurred," Cheney said. "We know as you know well, that the briefing room at the White House is just a mere few steps from the Oval Office. The president could have at any moment walked those very few steps into the briefing room, gone on live television, and told his supporters who were assaulting the Capitol to stop. He could have told them to stand down. He could have told them to go home, and he failed to do so. It's hard to imagine a more significant and more serious dereliction of duty than that...I think that there are a number of, as the chairman said, potential criminal statutes at issue here, but I think that there’s absolutely no question that it was a dereliction of duty. And I think one of the things the Committee needs to look at is -- as we’re looking at a legislative purpose -- is whether we need enhanced penalties for that kind of dereliction of duty."

While Cheney said she disagrees with the direction of President Joe Biden's administration, she believes it is important for the Republican party to be loyal to the country and not to Trump.

"Look, I think that we're in a situation as a nation where I certainly have very strong disagreements with policies of the Biden Administration," Cheney said. "I think that the policies that President Biden has adopted are the wrong ones for this country. I think we need conservative, principled leadership, but the Republican Party has to make a choice. We can either be loyal to our Constitution or loyal to Donald Trump, but we cannot be both. And the nation needs a Republican Party that is based on substance and values and principles, and we've got to get back to that if we want to get this nation back on track. But fundamentally, at the end of the day, we can't be a party that's based on lies. We've got to be based on a foundation of truth and fidelity to the rule of law, and, in my view, the most conservative of conservative principles is fidelity to the Constitution."