Liz Cheney spent at least $58,000 on bodyguards after Jan. 6, wants to teach GOP basic civics

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published 21 June 2021

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has no regrets about opposing former President Donald Trump and his lies about the 2020 election, even though it cost her her position in House Republican leadership and earned her death threats, she tells The New York Times. And to defuse those lies, she's banking on giving a crash course in basic civics to GOP voters misled by Trump and perhaps even newly elected members of her caucus.

"We've got people we've entrusted with the perpetuation of the Republic who don't know what the rule of law is," Cheney said. "We probably need to do Constitution boot camps for newly sworn-in members of Congress. Clearly." She added that she's "not naive about the education that has to go on here," but "this is something that determines the nature of this Republic going forward," and she's in the fight for as long as it takes.

There has been a cost to Cheney's crusade. She spent most of her recent congressional break in Wyoming but made very few public appearances, having "received a stream of death threats, common menaces" among high-profile Trump critics, the Times reports. Cheney "is now surrounded by a newly deployed detail of plainclothes, ear-pieced agents," and "her campaign spent $58,000 on security from January to March, including three former Secret Service officers." The U.S. Capitol Police recently assigned Cheney a protective detail, the Times reports, "an unusual measure for a House member not in a leadership position."

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Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney's "political alter ego," the Times says, called his daughter on Jan. 6, as she was preparing to take the House floor to support certifying President Biden's election win and Trump's loss. Dick Cheney had just heard Trump vow to get rid of "the Liz Cheneys of the world," and he was worried for her safety, the Times reports. Cheney said she told her father she "absolutely" wanted to go ahead with her speech, because "this is about being able to tell your kids that you stood up and did the right thing," but she never got the chance because minutes later, Trump's supporters breached the Capitol. Read more about the Cheneys and their new role in national politics at The New York Times.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.