Practically reprising her role on the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, Republican former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney on Tuesday released a 60-second ad targeting 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as “unfit for office” one day ahead of his highly-controversial CNN presidential election town hall.
“Donald Trump is the only president in American history who has refused to guarantee the peaceful transfer of power,” Cheney, who is not seen on-camera, says in her ad (below) released by her political action committee The Great Task, as NBC News first reported.
The damning charges, which are unquestionable, seem like a summation of her comments as vice chair of the Select Committee.
Trump, says Cheney, “lost the election and he knew it. He betrayed millions of Americans by telling them the election was stolen. He ignored the rulings of dozens of courts. Rather than accept his defeat, he mobilized a mob to come to Washington and march on the Capitol. Then he watched on television while the mob attacked law enforcement, invaded the Capitol, and hunted the vice president.”
“He refused for three hours to tell the mob to leave,” she continues. “There has never been a greater dereliction of duty by any president. Trump was warned repeatedly that his plans for January 6 were illegal. He didn’t care. And today, he celebrates those who attacked our capitol. Donald Trump has proven he is unfit for office. Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again.”
NBC News reports the ad will air “in New Hampshire, the first GOP primary state,” and “will coincide with the former president’s televised town hall on Wednesday at Saint Anselm College, just outside of Manchester.”
Trump is currently facing 34 felony charges related to his alleged porn star payoff and falsification of business records. The civil trial against him for rape and defamation is expected to be decided by a jury this week. He is also under investigation by the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s Special Counsel for his role in the insurrection and overturning the election, and his likely unlawful removal, retention, and refusal to return – despite subpoena – hundreds of documents with classified markings. And he is under investigation by a Georgia District Attorney for his efforts in that state to overturn the election results.
Trump’s lies are legendary (30,573 false or misleading claims over 4 years in office,) yet CNN has seen fit to hand him a microphone and a camera and will air his remarks on national television, live. It is unknown if the network has taken any steps, like a time-delay, to prevent false or dangerous statements from being aired.
CNN has been under fire for handing its live television platform to the ex-president who many believe engaged in a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election he lost by more than 7 million votes. An ex-president who, while still in office, organized with the help of his aides and allies, a violent and deadly insurrection that has led to the arrest of over 1000 participants, some of whom have been charged and convicted on seditious conspiracy charges.
NPR maintains a massive, regularly updated database of January 6 participants arrested and charged, including names and photos. Their most recent update, May 5, offers the following statistics (bullet points are direct quotes):
- Number of people charged, federal: 1,012
- Number of people charged, D.C.: 24
- Number of people who have pleaded guilty: 569
- Number of individuals who have had jury or bench trials: 81
- The number with mixed verdicts: 33
- The number convicted on all charges: 47
- The number acquitted on all charges: 1
- Number of people sentenced: 479
- The percentage of people sentenced who have received prison time: 58
Watch Cheney’s ad, “Risk,” below or at this link.