Former President Donald Trump has called Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming "worse than any Democrat" for her work as vice-chair on the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
Trump told the Post that congressmen and others with knowledge of the committee have told him that Cheney was the most aggressive member of the panel toward the former president.
"From what people tell me, from what I hear from other congressmen, she's like a crazed lunatic, she's worse than anyone else," he said. "From what I've heard, she's worse than any Democrat."
Trump said he considers Cheney a bigger foe than even Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who served as the lead House manager in the first impeachment trial of the former president.
Trump's comments come as committee members are reportedly debating ahead of nationally televised hearings that start next month what the focus of the probe should be.
Democrat Rep. Stephanie Murphy has stated that the panel should concentrate less on Trump and do more to look into the security and intelligence failures that led to the attack on the Capitol, with the Florida Democrat urging a harder look at how to prevent another breach, according to the Post.
Cheney, however, insists the committee should keep an intense focus on Trump, with her spokesman saying that her "view is that security at the Capitol is a critical part of the investigation, but the Capitol didn't attack itself."
The committee members are concerned how best to explain what went wrong on Jan. 6 so that a hyper-polarized American public will pay attention and learn the lessons, with some Democrats concerned that if the public sessions are too focused on Trump, part of the American electorate won't listen to the broader narrative the panel is attempting to tell.
Cheney has the most aggressive posture of the nine committee members towards Trump, with one telling the Post that she "has wanted to make sure we keep the focus on Trump and the political effort to overthrow Biden's majority in the Electoral College and to attack the peaceful transfer of power."
The panel member said that Cheney is not against also talking about preventive measures and changes to the law, but does not want those issues that have "become a GOP talking point … to distract from the responsibility for what Trump did."
via newsmax