Liz Cheney’s elevation to vice chair of the Jan. 6 panel makes her an even bigger thorn for McCarthy – By Kerry Eleveld (Daily Kos) / Sept 2 2021
GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s no-good, very bad week just got a lot worse. CNN is reporting McCarthy is now officially among the list of GOP lawmakers for whom the House Select Committee wants their Jan. 6 phone records preserved. In addition, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming—the person who has effectively made it her mission to keep McCarthy from becoming Speaker—has been appointed vice chair of the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol siege.
“Every member of this committee is dedicated to conducting a non-partisan, professional, and thorough investigation of all the relevant facts regarding January 6th and the threat to our Constitution we faced that day,” Cheney said in a statement. “I have accepted the position of Vice Chair of the committee to assure that we achieve that goal.”
The news comes during a week in which House Republicans flipped into full panic mode over the possibility that the private communications of about a dozen GOP members on Jan. 6 could eventually be made public. The committee has asked some 30 telecom and social media companies to preserve those phone records.
In response, McCarthy and other House Republicans threatened any company that complies with a forthcoming subpoena. A GOP majority, he pledged, “will not forget.”
News of Cheney’s promotion triggered another round of backlash from some GOP members whose Jan. 6 communications are reportedly under scrutiny. Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia led calls to purge both Cheney and the panel’s other Republican representative, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, from the Republican Party and the House GOP caucus.
