Rep. Liz Cheney Urges DOJ To Act On Trump For 'Most Serious' Crimes

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wants the Justice Department to prosecute former President Donald Trump if it finds evidence related to his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack.

Cheney, vice chair of the Jan. 6 House select committee, weighed in on whether a potential prosecution could add to Trumps political clout with supporters.

The question for us is: Are we a nation of laws? Are we a country where no one is above the law? And what do the facts and the evidence show? Cheney told CNN s Kasie Hunt on Thursday. And certainly, Ive been very clear, I think hes guilty of the most serious dereliction of duty of any president in our nations history.

Cheney also referenced a California federal district judge who said Trump, along with his former attorney John Eastman, more likely than not had committed crimes related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. She said the Jan. 6 committee would offer an opinion on criminal referrals to the Justice Department but added that any prosecution was ultimately up to the DOJ.

Understanding what it means if the facts and the evidence are there, and they decide not to prosecute: How do we then call ourselves a nation of laws? I think thats a very serious, serious balancing, Cheney said.

Watch a clip from the interview below:

Rep. Liz Cheney says if the Justice Department does not prosecute former President Donald Trump for his role in the insurrection at the US Capitol, the decision could call into question whether the United States can \"call ourselves a nation of laws\" https://t.co/lhqRO5XvGF pic.twitter.com/DCB8t68NjK

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Rep. Liz Cheney says if the Justice Department does not prosecute former President Donald Trump for his role in the insurrection at the US Capitol, the decision could call into question whether the United States can "call ourselves a nation of laws" https://t.co/lhqRO5XvGF pic.twitter.com/DCB8t68NjK
CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 4, 2022

Trumps lawyers have reportedly been in touch with the DOJ and were told that indictments were possible, sources told CNN .

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Cheney, who is running for re-election against a Trump-backed opponent, gave the CNN interview on the same day her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney , called Trump a coward in an ad for her reelection campaign.

A recent poll by The Casper Star-Tribune showed Cheney was trailing behind her opponent , Harriet Hageman, by 22 percentage points.