Liz Cheney skewered GOP leaders who 'have made themselves willing hostages' to 'dangerous and irrational' Trump in New Hampshire speech

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks during the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications' 18th First Amendment Awards at the NH Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, in Manchester, N.H.
AP Photo/Mary Schwalm

Rep. Liz Cheney said GOP leaders are "willing hostages" to former President Trump.
Cheney had harsh words for leaders of her own party in a Tuesday speech in New Hampshire.
Cheney said Trump is "at war with the rule of law and the Constitution."

GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming blasted leaders of her own party as "willing hostages" to former President Donald Trump during a Tuesday speech in New Hampshire.

Cheney delivered the keynote address at the Nackey Loeb School of Communication's First Amendment Award Celebration at St. Anslem College, a familiar stomping ground for political heavyweights and presidential hopefuls.

"And at this moment, when it matters most, we are also confronting a domestic threat that we've never faced before: a former president who's attempting to unravel the foundations of our Constitutional Republic, aided by political leaders who have made themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man," Cheney said.

Cheney, one of the most powerful and vocal Trump critics, lost her post in House GOP leadership as chair of the House Republican Conference after voting to impeach Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection on the US Capitol and denouncing Trump, which deepened a rift between her and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

She's now the vice-chair of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 riots, one of just two Republicans on the panel, along with retiring GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Cheney called out Trump by name in the speech, specifically denouncing his claims that the "real insurrection" was the presidential election on November 3, 2020, and his downplaying of the violence during the insurrection.

"Political leaders who sit silent in the face of these false and dangerous claims are aiding a former president who is at war with the rule of law and the Constitution," she said. "When our constitutional order is threatened, as it is now, rising above partisanship is not simply an aspiration. It is an obligation - an obligation of every one of us."

The Wyoming Republican, who was not among the 13 House Republicans who voted to pass President Joe Biden's $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill last Friday, emphasized in the speech that she "disagree[s] strongly with nearly everything President Biden has done since he has been in office" and called his policies "bad for this country."

But she made a strong call for her own party to return to espousing the principles of the Constitution, saying, "I love my party. I love its history. I love its principles, but I love my country more."

"I know this nation needs a Republican Party that is based on truth, one that puts forward our ideals and our policies based on substance," she said. "One that is willing to reject the former president's lies. One that is willing to tell the truth: that millions of Americans have been tragically misled by former President Trump, who continues to this day to use language that he knows provoked violence on January 6th."

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