After Rep. Elise Stefanik’s statement on the January 6th Capitol assault was allegedly removed from her website, former No. 3 House Republican Liz Cheney recirculated it.
Cheney published a link to it on X. On X, Cheney said that she had learned that Stefanik had removed her Jan. 6 statement in which she had demanded that those responsible for the incident be punished “to the fullest extent of the law.”
In her initial statement from January 6, Stefanik described the violence as “anti-American” and “tragic.” Her portrayal of the Capitol attackers has evolved since then. In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, she expressed her concerns about the treatment of Jan. 6 hostages.
Just recently, Cheney—one of the congressmen spearheading the investigation into the Capitol attack—referred to Stefanik as a “total crackpot.” The former congresswoman from Wyoming has been an outspoken opponent of Trump and his associates who spread false information on the 2020 election, which President Biden in what has been hyperbolically dubbed “the most secure election in history” by the Biden administration. In addition, Cheney has criticized Stefanik’s description of the rioters on January 6 as disgraceful and outrageous.
Stefanik holds the role of chair of the House Republican Conference, which is the fourth-ranking position held by Republicans. She did not pledge to ratify the 2024 election and expressed concerns, as do others, about the handling of the January 6 detainees to NBC, alluding to the approximately 1,200 individuals arrested in connection with the unrest, hundreds of whom have been found guilty.
One of the two Republicans who went against party leadership to join the January 6 committee was Cheney, Stefanik’s predecessor as conference chair. A Trump supporter defeated her and took her Wyoming seat. Her staunch conservatism, participation in the Republican elite, and the fact that she is the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney have not reintegrated with the party.
