Cheney: Capitol Riot Commission ‘Threatens’ Republicans Who Played a ‘Role They Shouldn’t Have’

Representative Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) said a potential commission to investigate the January 6 riot at the Capitol “threatens” some Republicans who may have “played a role” in the event, in comments on NBC’s The Today Show on Thursday.

“I…think there is real concern among a number of members of my own party about a January 6 commission,” Cheney said. “I’ve been very public that that commission needs to be bipartisan, it needs to look only at January 6 and the events leading up to it, not at the BLM and antifa riots last summer.”

“I think that that kind of intense, narrow focus threatens people in my party who may have been playing a role they should not have been playing,” she added.

While it was unclear specifically who Cheney was referring to, Representative Steve Cohen (D., Tenn.) alleged that Representative Lauren Boebert (R., Colo.) gave tours of the Capitol in the days prior to the riot. However, rumors that Boebert toured the Capitol with future rioters were never substantiated.

Senator Josh Hawley was also criticized after the riot for fist-pumping to protesters on the morning of January 6, before the riot actually began. Hawley later said that the demonstrators he met were peaceful and that he did not know if any of them later joined riots. Hawley was among a small group of Senate Republicans who refused to drop their challenge to the certification of electoral college votes even after the riot.

Cheney joined top Democrats in calling for the creation of commission to investigate the riots but the idea fell flat after Republicans insisted that any commission must look at recent political violence more broadly, including the Black Lives Matter riots that took place in cities across the country last summer. Democrats and certain Republicans, including Cheney, have argued that a broader commission would only distract from a real probe into the Capitol riot.

When Guthrie asked Cheney whether there were any lawmakers “complicit” in the riot, Cheney responded “I don’t want to go that far.”

“Each time we’ve had something happen in this country that is that kind of a crisis, we had a commission, and there’s no reason why there should be any resistance to doing so in this case,” Cheney said.

House Republicans ousted Cheney from her position in caucus leadership by a voice vote on Wednesday. Many Republicans grew frustrated with Cheney’s continuing criticism of President Trump’s apparent refusal to call off rioters during the breach of the Capitol, and of his refusal to admit defeat to President Biden in the 2020 election.