Washington, DC – This morning, Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) joined “Fox News Sunday” alongside South Carolina Congressman and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) to discuss being honored by The Panetta Institute for Public Policy as a 2021 recipient of the Jefferson-Lincoln Award.
Watch the discussion here and see excerpts of the transcript below:
CHRIS WALLACE: Congresswoman Cheney, how do you balance being partisan and patriotic?
REP. LIZ CHENEY: You know, I think a lot of it has to do with being focused on substance and recognizing that there are places where we’re going to differ and that we ought to, you know, be engaged in fierce debates about those principles and the differences in substance and policy, but that at the end of the day, we are all Americans. We have to remember that we’re able to have those debates, have those discussions and differences of opinion because we have a firm, solid foundation in our Constitution. Our commitment to the Constitution has got to come above partisanship.
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WALLACE: As someone — well, I can’t say that about you Congresswoman, but Congressman Clyburn and I, we’re old-timers. I’ve been in Washington —
REP. CHENEY: Thanks.
WALLACE: I’ve been in Washington I bet longer than you have, 40 years — and, you know, there were always divisions and we always argued about policy. What strikes me that’s different now, and not just now but recent years, is we argue over facts, we argue over the truth. Congresswoman Cheney, there is talk now, talk, that January 6th was a false flag operation. That it was a case of liberals in the deep state setting up conservatives and Trump supporters. Is there any truth to that?
REP. CHENEY: None at all. You know, it’s the same kind of thing that you hear from people who say that 9/11 is an inside job, for example. It’s un-American to be spreading those kinds of lies, and they are lies. We have an obligation that goes beyond partisanship and an obligation that we share, Democrats and Republicans together, to make sure that we understand every single piece of the facts about what happened that day and to make sure that the people who did it are held accountable. To call it a false flag operation to spread those kinds of lies is really dangerous.
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WALLACE: Congresswoman Cheney, I suspect one of the reasons that you are being honored is because you spoke out against President Trump after the insurrection, because you are one of the few Republicans who was willing to join the January 6th Committee – the committee investigating what happened. The flip side of that is that you lost your leadership position among House Republicans, you face a tough primary challenge in your state of Wyoming this next year. Why wouldn’t members of both parties look at your example and say, ‘that’s the last thing I want to do?’
REP. CHENEY: Well, I fundamentally believe, Chris, that at the end of the day, the success of this country and the future and the security of our constitutional underpinnings require that there is a recognition that there are sometimes when you do have to say, you know, partisanship has to be put aside. And I think that we’ve got to have two strong parties in this country, and I think the only way the Republican Party can go forward in strength is if we reject the lie, if we reject what happened on January 6th, if we reject the efforts that President Trump made, frankly, to steal the election, and if we tell voters the truth, and if we present ourselves to voters based on substance. I believe firmly in conservative principles and ideals, and I think those are the ones that are right for the nation, but in order to prevail, in order to win elections, we have to remember the most conservative of conservative ideals is embracing the Constitution and the rule of law. And so, I think that at the end of the day, that is much more important than party politics.
Original source can be found here.
