Cheney says DOJ not prosecuting Trump if there’s evidence could call into
In an interview with CNN’s Kasie Hunt, Cheney — the GOP vice chair of the House select committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, insurrection — said Trump is “guilty of the most serious dereliction of duty of any president in our nation’s history” and pointed to a judge who’s said he likely committed crimes. She said the House committee is “going to continue to follow the facts. I think Department of Justice will do that. But they have to make decisions about prosecution.”
“Understanding what it means if the facts and the evidence are there, and they decide not to prosecute — how do we then call ourselves a nation of laws? I think that’s a very serious, serious balancing,” Cheney said.
“The question for us is, are we a nation of laws? Are we a country where no one is above the law? And what do the facts and the evidence show?” Cheney said.
She sidestepped questions about whether Trump being prosecuted by President Joe Biden’s Justice Department would only add to his strength with the Republican Party’s base ahead of the 2024 presidential bid that Trump has repeatedly teased.
“I don’t think that it’s appropriate to think about it that way,” said Cheney, who’s facing a Trump-backed challenger in a primary later this month.
“I think he’s guilty of the most serious dereliction of duty of any president in our nation’s history,” Cheney said of Trump. “You’ve had a federal judge in California say that it’s more likely than not that he and John Eastman committed two crimes.”
The House committee is preparing to release its final report ahead of November’s midterm elections.
CLARIFICATION: This headline and story have been updated to clarify the conditions that Cheney thinks would call into question the US as a “nation of laws.”
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