Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning

by Liz Cheney

When Trump took to calling McCarthy a “pussy,” McCarthy “responded not by defying the former president but by more or less setting out to prove him right.”

In our country, we don’t swear an oath to an individual, or a political party. We take our oath to defend the United States Constitution. And that oath must mean something. Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.

Margaret Thatcher, said this: “Let it never be said that the dedication of those who love freedom is less than the determination of those who would destroy it.”

I would invite anyone who still harbors doubts to read the Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, and in particular to download and read the November 29, 2022, recorded examination by Chief Investigative Counsel Tim Heaphy of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato. They knew.

We had long suspected Trump and Meadows of having communicated with Flynn and Stone in advance of January 6. Both Flynn and Stone had been seen with members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. We had direct testimony indicating that Trump asked Meadows to call Flynn and Stone on the night of January 5. But because Flynn and Stone took the 5th, and because Meadows refused to testify and Justice declined to prosecute, we had no further details about those communications.