U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney joined her colleagues on Wyoming’s congressional delegation in condemning the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, but she also took the opportunity to criticize President Donald Trump for creating the atmosphere that led to the attack.
An undetermined number of people described as supporters of Trump breached the security measures in place around the Capitol on Wednesday as members of Congress discussed certifying the results of the Electoral College vote from November’s presidential election.
Cheney placed blame for the attack on Trump and said he failed to adequately address the situation once it got out of hand.
“It doesn’t matter what side of those issues you stand on,” Cheney said during an interview with NBC News on Wednesday afternoon. “The President of the United States’ statement now, in my view, was completely inadequate – what he has done and what he caused here is something that we’ve never seen before in our history.”
Cheney was referring to a short video Trump posted to Twitter earlier Wednesday after the invasion began in which he thanks the protesters for their support, but calls on them to “go home.”
Despite the sharp political differences seen in the country, violent actions are not the answer, Cheney said.
“We have very deep and clear political differences in this country, but we don’t resolve those differences by mob violence,” she said. “It has been 245 years and no president has ever failed to concede or agree to leave office after the Electoral College has voted.”
She added that Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol was a result of Trump’s continued insistence that he actually won November’s presidential election and that there was a conspiracy keeping him from being returning to the White House.
“I think what we’re seeing today is a result of that – a result of convincing people that somehow Congress was going to overturn the results of this election, a result of suggesting he wouldn’t leave office,” Cheney said. “Those are very, very dangerous things. This will be remembered and this will be part of his legacy, and it is a dangerous moment for our country.”
Trump said during a rally earlier Wednesday that he would “never concede.”
