Liz Cheney: Kevin McCarthy has 'turned his back on the Constitution'

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) believes "the majority of Republicans across the country" understand the importance of protecting and defending the Constitution, she said Sunday — and then there's House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Cheney, vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, told CBS Sunday Morning there are "too many people now in the Republican Party who are not taking their responsibilities seriously, and who have pledged their allegiance and loyalty to [former President] Donald Trump." This, she added, is "fundamentally antithetical, it is contrary to everything conservatives believe, to embrace a personality cult."
Because of her public criticism of Trump, Cheney was voted out of Republican leadership last year, and McCarthy was angry when she joined the Jan. 6 committee. He has ignored a subpoena issued by the panel, and when asked if she thinks McCarthy is afraid of Trump, Cheney told CBS "I think some of it is fear. I think it's also craven political calculation. I think that he has decided that, you know, the most important thing to him is to attempt to be speaker of the House. And therefore he is embracing those in our party who are antisemitic; he is embracing those in our party who are white nationalists; he is lying about what happened on Jan. 6; and he's turned his back on the Constitution."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Jan. 6 committee is holding its first public hearing since July on Thursday, and Cheney said she is confident Americans will realize that the insurrection is "an ongoing threat." Trump hasn't shown any remorse for what happened on Jan. 6, Cheney added, and "we are in fact in a situation where he continues to use even more extreme language, frankly, than the language that caused the attack. And so, people must pay attention. People must watch, and they must understand how easily our democratic system can unravel if we don't defend it."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Columbia pays $200M to settle with White House
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the school of failing to protect its Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests
-
Florida judge and DOJ make Epstein trouble for Trump
Speed Read The Trump administration's request to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein investigation was denied
-
Trump attacks Obama as Epstein furor mounts
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the Obama administration of 'treasonous' behavior during the 2016 election
-
Deportations: The growing backlash
Feature New poll numbers show declining support for Trump's deportation crackdown
-
Is Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' cancellation an omen of something worse?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION CBS said its decision to end the talk show was strictly business. But the timing and nature of the announcement has some observers wondering if there's more at play behind the scenes.
-
Trump administration releases MLK files
Speed Read Newly released documents on the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not hold any new revelations, King historians said
-
Citizenship: Trump order blocked again
Feature After the Supreme Court restricted nationwide injunctions, a federal judge turned to a class action suit to block Trump's order to end birthright citizenship
-
Epstein: Why MAGA won't move on
Feature Trump's supporters are turning on him after he denied the existence of Epstein's client list