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Liz Cheney vows to work to keep Trump from return to power – video
After being voted out from her role as House Republican conference chair, Liz Cheney said she planned to ‘lead the fight’ to create a stronger party in the future. The congresswoman said: ‘I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office.’ Cheney was one of 10 Republicans in the House who voted to impeach Trump over the US Capitol breach
Liz Cheney removed from House leadership over Trump criticism
Why did the Republican party oust Liz Cheney? More - in US Politics
Liz Cheney castigates Republican colleagues for backing Trump – video
The US representative Liz Cheney, speaking in the House a day before her expected ouster from a Republican leadership post, chastised her party colleagues for not standing up to the former president Donald Trump and his false claim that the November election was stolen. ’Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that,’ she said.
Cheney, the No 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, was one of 10 Republicans in the House who voted to impeach Trump in January after he delivered a fiery 6 January speech to supporters, many of whom then stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to block certification of his election loss to Joe BidenRepublicans gear up to oust Liz Cheney as punishment for criticizing Trump
Ex-Pentagon chief will defend military’s Capitol riots response to Congress
Republican Joni Ernst accuses party of cancel culture over Liz Cheney ousting More - in US Politics
Ex-Pentagon chief will defend military’s Capitol riots response to Congress
Donald Trump’s acting defense secretary during the 6 January Capitol riots plans to tell Congress that he was concerned in the days before the insurrection that sending troops to the building would fan fears of a military coup and could cause a repeat of the deadly Kent State shootings, according to a copy of prepared remarks obtained by the Associated Press.Christopher Miller’s testimony is aimed at defending the Pentagon’s response to the chaos of the day and rebutting broad criticism that military forces were too slow to arrive even as pro-Trump rioters violently breached the building and stormed inside. He casts himself as a deliberate leader who was determined that the military have only limited involvement, a perspective he says was shaped by criticism of the aggressive response to the civil unrest that roiled American cities months earlier, as well as decades-old episodes that ended in violence.The defense department, he will tell members of the House oversight committee on Wednesday, has “an extremely poor record in supporting domestic law enforcement”, including during civil rights and anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in the 1960s and 1970s.“And some 51 years ago, on May 4, 1970, Ohio national guard troops fired at demonstrators at Kent State University and killed four American civilians,” Miller will say, adding, “I was committed to avoiding repeating these scenarios.”He will also deny that Trump, criticized for failing to forcefully condemn the rioters, had any involvement in the defense department’s response and will say that Trump had even suggested that 10,000 troops might be needed for 6 January.Miller, expected to testify alongside the former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and District of Columbia police chief, Robert Contee III, will be the most senior defense department official to participate in congressional hearings on the riots. The sessions have been characterized by finger-pointing by officials across agencies about missed intelligence, poor preparations and an inadequate law enforcement response.The Capitol police have faced criticism for being badly overmatched, the FBI for failing to share with sufficient urgency intelligence suggesting a possible “war” at the Capitol, and the defense department for an hours-long delay in getting support to the complex despite the violent, deadly chaos unfolding on TV.Rosen, for his part, is expected to tell lawmakers that the justice department “took appropriate precautions” ahead of the riot, putting tactical and other elite units on standby after local police reports indicated that 10,000 to 30,000 people were expected at rallies and protests, according to prepared remarks obtained by the AP.Miller’s testimony will amount to the most thorough explanation of Pentagon actions after months of criticism that it took hours for the national guard to arrive.In his remarks, he defends his resistance to a heavy military response as being shaped by public “hysteria” about the possibility of a military coup or concerns that the military might be used to help overturn the election results. Democrats have signaled that they intend to press Miller on why it took so long for the national guard to arrive despite urgent plans for help. Miller will contend that those complaints are unjustified, though he also concedes that the guard was not rushed to the scene – a decision that he maintains was intentional.“This isn’t a video game where you can move forces with a flick of the thumb or a movie that glosses over the logistical challenges and the time required to coordinate and synchronize with the multitude of other entities involved, or with complying with the important legal requirements involved in the use of such forces,“ he will say.Even after the guard was requested, he said he felt compelled to send them “in with a plan to not only succeed but that would spare them unnecessary exposure and spare everyone the consequences of poor planning or execution”.Although the timeline Miller offers in his remarks generally matches up with that provided by other high-ranking leaders, he notably puts himself at odds with William Walker, who as commanding general of the DC national guard testified to what he said were unusual Pentagon restrictions that impeded his response and contributed to a three-hour delay between the time he requested aid and the time it was received. Walker has since become the House sergeant-at-arms, in charge of the chamber’s security.Miller will say that Walker was given “all the authority he needed to fulfill the mission” and that before 6 January he had never expressed any concern about the forces he had at his disposal. Miller said he approved the activation of the guard at 3pm. He said that though that support did not arrive at the Capitol complex until 5.22pm, the coordination, planning and deputizing of personnel by civilian law enforcement all took time.Miller, a Green Beret and retired army colonel, served as a White House counter-terrorism adviser under Trump before being tapped as the acting defense secretary for the final months of the Trump administration. He replaced Mark Esper, who was fired after the election after being seen by Trump as insufficiently loyal.The abrupt appointment raised concerns that Miller was in place to be a Trump loyalist. In his opening statement, though, he will say that he believes Trump “encouraged the protesters” but decline to say if he thinks the president bears responsibility. He recounts a conversation on 5 January when Trump, struck by a crowd of supporters at a rally that day, told him that 10,000 troops would be needed the next day.“The call lasted fewer than 30 seconds and I did not respond substantively, and there was no elaboration. I took his comment to mean that a large force would be required to maintain order the following day,” Miller says in his statement. More
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Divided Republicans reunite to mount defense of filibuster
While congressional Democrats hope to make dramatic changes to a controversial legislative tool that has stalled bills in the Senate and could be used to frustrate Joe Biden’s ambitious agenda, Republicans are mounting an all-out defense to protect it.Conservative outside groups have been organizing overtly and covertly to counter Democratic pressure to gut the filibuster – a Senate device that in effect allows the minority party to halt proposed legislation.While Democrats have been struggling to unite members of their Senate caucus, especially the more centrist holdouts, to get rid of the filibuster, their Republican counterparts have been lockstep in opposing changes.Meanwhile, Republican outside groups have churned out polling, aired ads, organized gatherings and released statements warning of the long-term consequences of changing the rule. It is a concerted program that Republicans see as vital to preserving their power in the Biden era, while Democrats see it as a potential threat to their attempts to bring in meaningful legislation.The cause has reunited Republicans after the divisiveness of the Trump era – bringing together business interests, Trumpist politicians and their anti-Trump opponents in the party, as well traditional big donors to conservative causes.For Republicans involved in the fight, the campaign to preserve the filibuster is a historically important one. “The filibuster really serves as that backstop against heat-of-the-moment politics,” said Garrett Bess, vice-president for government relations for Heritage Action for America, a non-profit group aligned with the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank.Bess said his group sought to ensure “that people understand what is on the other side of changing the filibuster. So when we’re talking to a conservative audience or a right-of-center audience, on the other side of the filibuster is higher taxes and gun control and taxpayer-funded abortion. Those kinds of things.”In front of a more moderate audience, Bess said, the argument is to warn about statehood for Washington DC or Democrats’ voting rights package. Bess said Heritage Action had focused on talking with “constituencies of Democratic senators in which we have a very large footprint – Arizona, Georgia, West Virginia” and was expanding into New Hampshire, Bess said.In late April, One Nation, an outside group aligned with Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican Senate minority leader, released polling from Arizona and New Hampshire, Nevada and West Virginia to argue against filibuster reform. Arizona and West Virginia are the two states with the most conservative Democrats in the caucus. The polling found that voters were largely unaware of the filibuster and when they were made aware “in fairly neutral terms, support for keeping the filibuster is solid”.“On the filibuster, voters are much more aligned with the position and statements of Senator Kyrsten Sinema than they are with the position and statements of Senator Mark Kelly,” the One Nation polling memo said. Sinema has expressed stubborn opposition to changing the filibuster while Kelly has expressed openness to some kind of reform.The fact that one of the primary McConnell-aligned groups published those results underscores congressional Republicans’ position on the filibuster. McConnell has warned about longer-term consequences of filibuster reform and has argued it would change change the Senate to a “scorched-earth” body.“Let me say this very clearly for all 99 of my colleagues: nobody serving in this chamber can even begin, can even begin, to imagine what a completely scorched-earth Senate would look like,” the top Republican said in March. Heritage Action and 28 other groups published a letter in January urging every member of the Senate to oppose filibuster reform.“The legislative filibuster is an essential part of ensuring a strong system of checks and balances,” the letter read. “While we typically do not weigh in on Congressional procedure, we believe elimination of the filibuster could result in a slew of destructive policy changes.”Manchin and Sinema are favorite targets for conservatives looking to fight support for filibuster reform. Americans for Prosperity, another outside group, funded by Charles Koch, has launched a six-figure ad campaign focused on those two senators.Similarly, Ken Cuccinelli, a former official in the Department of Homeland Security during Donald Trump’s presidency and a former attorney general of Virginia, is leading a conservative group that has encouraged Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia to oppose filibuster reform.Even the US Chamber of Commerce, which at times has worked with Joe Biden’s administration and endorsed a set of congressional Democrats, has voiced opposition to filibuster reform. Suzanne Clark, the president and CEO of the chamber, tweeted the group’s statement.Issues of national importance deserve the time, thoughtfulness, and deliberation that the #filibuster provides. Debate doesn’t have to mean obstruction—lawmakers should be able to have passionate convictions AND find solutions. Read our full statement: https://t.co/z9YPkm7x3E— Suzanne Clark (@SuzanneUSCC) March 16, 2021
Thank you @Sen_JoeManchin for your principled stand on preserving the #filibuster. American businesses—together with the West Virginians you serve so well—appreciate your commitment to solving our nation’s problems through collaboration and consensus-building. #leadership— Suzanne Clark (@SuzanneUSCC) April 9, 2021
Issues of national importance deserve the time, thoughtfulness, and deliberation that the #filibuster provides. Debate doesn’t have to mean obstruction—lawmakers should be able to have passionate convictions AND find solutions. Read our full statement: https://t.co/z9YPkm7x3E— Suzanne Clark (@SuzanneUSCC) March 16, 2021
Whether the filibuster will be dramatically altered depends on Democrats. No Republican senator has expressed support for it – and at this point, there are not enough Democratic votes to change it.Democrats who do not usually weigh in on Senate procedure or legislating have begun to argue for reform, however.And more than 350 prominent historians published a letter arguing for getting rid of the filibuster.“Only in recent decades have filibusters effectively created a regular supermajority threshold for routine legislation, with prior norms of restraint all but disappearing,” the letter, first reported by Talking Points Memo, said.Fix Our Senate, an alliance of about 70 groups that aims to get rid of the filibuster, has launched a six-figure ad buy urging Democrats to gut the mechanism. The group will also be holding a town hall with senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to argue for its elimination.“It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Republican leaders and their special interest allies are pulling out all the stops to protect the filibuster as the best weapon they have to block President Biden’s agenda and prevent Democrats from delivering on their promises,” Eli Zupnik, a Fix Our Senate spokesman, said in a statement. “But voters across the country are learning more about this ‘Jim Crow relic’ and will see through these desperate attempts by Senate Republicans to maintain power from the minority.” More - in US Politics
Liz Cheney warns Republicans ‘at turning point’ as she faces removal from leadership
Liz Cheney, the third-most-powerful House Republican, has warned that her party is “at a turning point” as it prepares to try to remove her from leadership for rejecting Donald Trump’s false claims about the election.Writing in a defiant op-ed, published by the Washington Post on Wednesday, the Wyoming Republican told her party that standing with Trump meant undermining the rule of law and risking continued violence.“Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work – confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this,” Cheney said in the article.“The Republican party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the constitution.”“History is watching us,” she warned.Her column comes as top members of her party, including Trump and the No 2 House Republican, Steve Scalise, publicly endorsed Representative Elise Stefanik for Cheney’s job as chair of the party’s conference. A vote could come as early as next Wednesday.Trump flexed his muscles anew this week, releasing seven public statements in three days reiterating his false claims that Joe Biden’s 7m-vote margin of victory was the result of fraud, and attacking Republicans including Cheney and Senator Mitt Romney who rejected him.Cheney referenced the president’s behavior in her column, saying that his message was clear. “Trump has repeated his claims that the 2020 election was a fraud and was stolen. His message: I am still the rightful president, and President Biden is illegitimate. Trump repeats these words now with full knowledge that exactly this type of language provoked violence on 6 January.“The question before us now is whether we will join Trump’s crusade to delegitimize and undo the legal outcome of the 2020 election, with all the consequences that might have. I have worked overseas in nations where changes in leadership come only with violence, where democracy takes hold only until the next violent upheaval,” Cheney wrote.She continued: “We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be.”Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud have been widely debunked. But Republican-controlled state legislatures are using those claims to justify legislation imposing new restrictions on voting.The Republican representative Adam Kinzinger earlier on Wednesday praised Cheney for standing by her criticism of Trump. “They are trying to remove Liz for telling you the truth, consistently,” said Kinzinger, who like Cheney voted to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting the Capitol riot.The Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial page also urged Republicans not to oust her.“Purging Liz Cheney for honesty would diminish the party,” it said in a Wednesday opinion piece.In a recent call, the Republican House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, told Donald Trump that Cheney would soon be forced out of her Republican leadership position, the Daily Beast reports.Cheney herself has told other Republicans that it’s not worth holding on to her leadership role as conference chair “if lying is going to be a requirement”, one source told the Daily Beast.Biden said on Wednesday that a “mini-revolution” over identity appeared to be under way in the Republican party.“Republicans are further away from trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for than I thought they would be at this point,” he told reporters at the White House. More
