Elizabeth Cheney spoke out against Trump, after loyally following his for years and that cost her dearly. Basically, it cost her a political career. Once you speak out against the leader of the Republican Party, like cult, you are ousted never to return. Heretics are not permitted in the world of Trump.
Cheney explained what happened after William Barr resigned:
“After Barr’s resignation on December 23rd the acting Attorney General who replaced him Jeff Rosen and the acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue told President Trump over and over again that the evidence did not support allegations he was making in public.”
And of course, Trump continued his insinuations about a stolen election no matter how many of his own advisors advised him that he was wrong, for there was no significant fraud in the election. None of them found fraud even though they knew their boss wanted to find fraud and their lives would have been much easier had they found fraud. The new attorney general, like the old one, told Trump that the evidence did not support the statements he was making in public.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who had been leading the charge on the 60 court cases that the Trump team filed trying to over turn the election in court, and which were lost in court, was severely criticized by the courts, including the New York Supreme Court which said this about him:
“Mr. Giuliani communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for the former president Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020.”
As a result, Giuliani lost his license to practice law.
As Elizabeth Cheney said,
“President Trump invested millions of dollar of campaign funds purposely spreading false information, running ads he knew were false, and convincing millions of Americans that the election was corrupt and that he was the true president.. and this provoked the violence in January 6th . “
Elizabeth Cheney who spoke knowing that her decision to speak out against Trump was deeply unpopular with many of her supporters and many of the people in her state, yet she chose to speak out against her President and party leader because she saw the corruption of her president and realizing that she had a higher loyalty to the country and the constitution. She spoke after hearing many weeks of testimony by many witnesses behind closed doors. At the Select Committee Hearings she summarized that evidence for the benefit of viewers. As a result, Ms. Cheney drew our attention to the fact that President Trump corruptly planned to replace the Attorney General of the United States so the US Justice Department would spread his false stolen election claims. In the days before January 6, President Trump told his top Justice Department officials “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.”
Senior officials whom Trump had appointed told him he could not do that because it was not true. What was Trump’s response? Cheney described it this way:
“So president Trump decided to replace them. He offered Jeff Clark, an environmental lawyer at the Justice Department, the job of acting Attorney General. President Trump wanted Mr. Clark to take a number of steps including sending this letter to Georgia and 5 other states, saying the US Department of Justice “… have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election…”
As Ms. Cheney said,
“This letter is a lie! The Justice Department had in fact repeatedly told President Trump exactly the opposite that they had investigated his stolen election allegations and found no credible fraud that could impact the outcome of the election! This letter and many others like it would have urged multiple states to withdraw their official and lawful electoral votes for Biden.”
Acting Deputy Attorney General Donoghue saw the proposed letter and said this about it: “This would be a grave step for the department to take and it could have tremendous Constitutional, political, and social ramifications for the country.” Ms. Cheney added, “The committee agrees with Mr. Donoghue’s assessment. Had Clark assumed the role of Attorney General in the days before January 6th and issued these letters, the ramifications indeed could have been grave.”
Mr. Donoghue also said this about Mr. Clark’s plan, “and I recall toward the end saying what you are proposing is nothing less than the United States Justice Department meddling in the outcome of a presidential election.” This of course is precisely what it was. It is also precisely what president Trump wanted. It did not matter to him that he would have been corrupting the Department of Justice. The only thing that mattered was that this is what Donald Trump wanted. Nothing else mattered a whit.
As a result of all of this, the senior leadership of the Department of Justice threatened to resign. The White House counsel threatened to resign. They confronted Jeff Clark and Donald Trump in the Oval office. As Ms. Cheney said, “the men involved including acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen and acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue were appointed by President Trump. These men honored their oaths of office, and did their duty. They were all lawyers who did what was hard because it was right. They put party behind country. They did this at the expense of their careers. As Cheney said, “By contrast, Jeff Clark has invoked his 5th amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refused to testify.” He was a less honorable lawyer.
One of the more sickening things pointed out by Elizabeth Cheney was that multiple Republican politicians sought presidential pardons for their efforts to thwart American democracy. These are the same political leaders who praised Donald Trump for his efforts to “drain the swamp.” Is that how it done, by seeking presidential pardons for themselves?
As Cheney said, “President Trump engaged in relentless efforts to pressure, both in private, and in public” to thwart the will of the American voters. As she said, “What President Trump demanded was wasn’t just wrong, it was illegal and unconstitutional.”
America needs more heretics like Elizabeth Cheney.