HEFTY DECISIONS

Liz Cheney Denies Jan. 6 Committee Is Torn Over Trump Criminal Referral

Cheney’s comments came after a New York Times report said the committee was not sure whether to refer the former president to the Justice Department.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) said the Jan. 6 committee remained unified in its investigation into the deadly attack on the Capitol, downplaying a New York Times report that suggested the committee was unsure whether to refer former President Donald Trump for criminal charges. “There’s not really a dispute on the committee,” Cheney told Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union. “We have not made a decision about referrals on the committee … [but] it’s actually clear that what President Trump was dealing with, what a number of people around him were doing, that they knew it was awful. That they did it anyway.” The Times report said the committee wavered on whether the referral would add too much of a political lens to a potential Justice Department-led criminal investigation, and whether it was even necessary, especially after a federal judge ruled in a court case last week that the twice-impeached president “more likely than not” committed federal crimes after the 2020 election.