President-elect Donald Trump is not ruling out the possibility that former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney could face legal prosecution for investigating him.
On “Meet The Press” on Sunday, Trump said the members of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack who investigated his alleged role during the 2021 Capitol Riot should be jailed. Cheney was the vice chair of this committee.
“For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said.
Cheney responded to Trump’s comments in a statement she released Sunday.
“Donald Trump’s suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic,” she said. “There is no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is suggesting — a Justice Department investigation of the work of a congressional committee — and any lawyer who attempts to pursue that course would quickly find themselves engaged in sanctionable conduct.”
But Trump also said he would not direct his new attorney general or the FBI director to pursue this matter, although he said he expects them to do it on their own.
“I think that they’ll have to look at that,” he said, “but I’m not going to” order them to.
Jason Miller, Trump’s senior advisor, sought to clarify the president-elect’s comments on CNN on Monday, saying Trump meant he was going to leave criminal investigations to law enforcement purview, namely his nominees for U.S. Attorney General and FBI director.
“What President Trump said, if you listen to the entire 'Meet the Press' interview, is he wants everyone who he puts into key positions of leadership ... to apply the law equally to everybody,” Miller said.
He continued, “as far as the politics aspect, if you listen to the entire interview with President Trump, he said he's going to leave that up to the law enforcement agents in charge, including Pam Bondi and Kash Patel.”
Trump named Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, as his nominee to lead the Justice Department last month. He nominated Kash Patel, a strong supporter of his, to lead the FBI.
It’s unclear what legal grounds Trump would have to investigate Cheney and the committee, which was working as a function of the Legislative branch and was technically performing legislative duties. Committee members only made criminal referrals, not charges, against Trump. Congress is generally given broad immunity when it comes to performing investigations.
Cheney’s claim is also somewhat dubious as there is great inconsistency within the courts about how and when judges will issue sanctions.
Former AG’s Perspective
Former U.S. Attorney for Wyoming Kip Crofts told Cowboy State Daily that even though he believes Cheney acted unethically and relied on too much hearsay evidence on the committee, he also can’t see how any reputable prosecutor would think there is anything subject to criminal prosecution in the actions of the Jan. 6 committee.
Specifically, Crofts said relying on the testimony of a White House staffer who heard that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of a moving Secret Service vehicle on Jan. 6 was wrong. Crofts also said he believes Cheney suppressed evidence during the committee’s investigation that disagreed with her overarching narrative against Trump.
“I think it might be possible to ask a state bar licensing organization to discipline her for unethical behavior on that basis,” Crofts said. “But I can’t see a crime there — she did not suborn perjury from the woman - she may well have heard some such wild story in the midst of all the craziness that was going on at that time.
“Any lawyer would have challenged that woman’s testimony as unreliable hearsay and likely called the agent to tell what really happened.”
Retribution
Patel has vowed to “come after” the president-elect’s perceived enemies and named about 60 people he considered “members of the executive branch deep state” in an appendix to a 2023 book.
When asked whether Patel would pursue investigations against his political adversaries, Trump said he doesn’t expect that to occur but, “If they were crooked, if they did something wrong, if they have broken the law, probably,” he said. “They went after me. You know, they went after me, and I did nothing wrong.”
In order to install Patel, Trump would have to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray, who led the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022.
“I can’t say I’m thrilled with him,” Trump said of Wray. “He invaded my home. I’m suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-Lago. I’m very unhappy with the things he’s done.”
Former Wyoming House Speaker and Senate President Eli Bebout said getting payback in politics is usually a juice that isn’t worth the squeeze. Whenever he would get in a spirited debate with another legislator, Bebeout said they’d “fight like the dickens and then move on.”
Also, it’s highly unlikely that Cheney has any political future in Wyoming, so it’s unclear what would be the best outcome for Trump in the event he did go after her, a legal event that could be long and protracted.
Bebout, who voted for Trump and didn’t agree with Cheney openly opposing the former president, said he wants to see Trump focus on policy and work on making life better for everyday Americans rather than seeking political retribution against his opponents. In short, Bebout said Trump has “bigger fish to fry.”
“The people have spoken,” he said. “They’re not interested in payback. They want Trump to solve real problems.”
Pardon Me
Trump consistently made the argument that he was the victim of a weaponized Department of Justice while in office. To turn that around against his political enemies, could also open him up to some criticism.
Reports surfaced last week that President Joe Biden is considering issuing wide-sweeping preemptive pardons for people he fears Trump will go after once taking office, like Cheney. Although Bebout said he can see both sides of Biden issuing a pardon for his son, he doesn’t believe the proposal to issue mass pardons is right.
“What a crazy idea, that smacks of a bunch of BS,” Bebout said.
Trump didn’t express as much interest in prosecuting Biden and his family.
“I’m really looking to make our country successful,” Trump said when asked about investigating Biden and his family. “I’m not looking to go back into the past. I’m looking to make our country successful. Retribution will be through success.”
Plan For Jan. 6 Participants
Trump also said on “Meet The Press” that on his first day of taking office next month, he will extend clemency to the hundreds of people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, with “some exceptions” for those who were “radical, crazy.” But when asked about convicting those who assaulted police officers, Trump defended those individuals, saying they had “no choice.”
According to the New York Times, late last month, Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, declared at a hearing that he opposed a broad policy of amnesty toward Jan. 6 defendants.
“It would be beyond frustrating and disappointing if there were blanket pardons for Jan. 6 defendants or anything close,” he said.
Trump also said he would try to bar automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to immigrant parents, but also said he would “work with the Democrats on a plan” to allow these people to stay in the United States.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
