Speaking on Monday, December 9, former member of Congress and former member of the partisan January 6 Committee Liz Cheney declared that she thinks she should not have to go to jail after she was allegedly caught destroying well over 100 filed related to the January 6 Committee’s work and investigation.
The incident was sparked by a comment made by President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday, December 8. He, commenting on the destroyed, or at least disappeared, committee evidence, accused the members of the panel of destroying evidence, adding that the destroyed evidence would have exonerated him of evidence of wrongdoing.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who investigated the committee and discovered the missing files, told Fox News in January of 2022, “It’s obvious that [the J6 committee] went to great lengths to prevent Americans from seeing certain documents produced in their investigation. It also appears that Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney intended to obstruct our Subcommittee by failing to preserve critical information and videos as required by House rules.”
Trump, when speaking to NBC’s Kristen Welker, commented on the members of the January 6 Committee, saying, “Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps. They deleted and destroyed all evidence.”
He added, “Biden can give them a pardon if he wants to. And maybe he should.” He continued, noting why a pardon might be necessary, “Just remember, the unselect committee – a year and a half of sworn testimony, and after getting all of the testimony, they deleted it, wait, and they destroyed almost everything. There’s nothing left. It’s unprecedented, and they deny you do that. In a civil case, you go to jail.”
Welker, following up, asked him, “So you think Liz Cheney should go to jail?” He said, “Anybody who voted in favor –” Cutting him off, Welker said, “Are you going to direct your FBI director and your attorney general to send them to jail?” Trump said, “Not at all. I think that they’ll have to look at that … they can do whatever they want.”
As might be expected, Liz Cheney freaked out about those comments and Trump’s allegations of wrongdoing. Without explaining where the files went, she declared, “Donald Trump knows his claims about the select committee are ridiculous and false, as has been detailed extensively, including by Chairman Thompson.”
She also said, in the New York Times reports, that the idea that members and former members of Congress could be punished for destroying evidence is an “assault on the rule of law.” She declared, “Trump’s suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”
Further, she declared that there is no “factual or constitutional” basis for punishing those who destroyed evidence, saying, “There is no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is suggesting — a Justice Department investigation of the work of a congressional committee — and any lawyer who attempts to pursue that course would quickly find themselves engaged in sanctionable conduct.”
Watch Trump comment on the J6 Committee here:
