Liz Cheney: White House Received Reports of Planned Violence Ahead of Jan. 6
Jan. 6 Committee Ranking Member Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) said on Thursday that the Trump White House received reports of planned violence ahead of the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol.
Cheney referenced a meeting at the White House between President Donald Trump, his legal team, and other advisors after the 2020 election and before Jan. 6.
“You will also hear that President Trump met with that group alone for a period of time before White House lawyers and other staff discovered the group was there and rushed to intervene,” said Cheney in her statement in the opening of the primetime committee hearing.
“A little more than an hour after Ms. [Sidney] Powell, Mr. [Rudy] Giuliani, Gen. [Michael] Flynn and the others finally left the White House, President Trump sent the tweet on the screen now, telling people to come to Washington on Jan. 6. ‘Be there,’ he instructed them, ‘will be wild.’ As you will see, this was a pivotal moment.”
Cheney went on to say, “This tweet initiated a chain of events, led to planning for what occurred on Jan. 6 including by the Proud Boys who ultimately led the invasion of the Capitol and the violence on that day.”
Proud Boys members, including its former leader, were indicted, noted Cheney, who quoted an indictment stating they allegedly planned to “oppose by force, the authority of the government of the United States.”
According to the Department of Justice, said Cheney, “the defendants directed, led and mobilized members of the crowd into the capitol, leading to the dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, breaching of the capitol building and the assault on law enforcement.”
Cheney countered the notion by former Trump administration officials that the administration wasn’t warned about Jan. 6.
“Although certain former Trump officials have argued they did not anticipate violence on Jan. 6, the evidence suggests otherwise,” she said. “As you will see in our hearings, the White House was receiving specific reports in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including during President Trump’s Ellipse rally, indicating that elements in the crowd were preparing for violence at the Capitol.”
Watch above, via CNN.
