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Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney may have violated campaign finance rules with her concession speech, filmed by the same man who has helped the January 6 committee hearings.
Former ABC News president James Goldston reportedly filmed Cheney’s speech on CNN. According to campaign finance experts, if Goldston was paid for the footage, it would constitute an in-kind contribution to Cheney’s campaign, which is prohibited under federal law.
Cheney has come under fire from both sides of the aisle in recent weeks, first for her vote to impeach Donald Trump and then for her comments downplaying the role of former President Trump in the January 6 insurrection.
In her concession speech, Cheney doubled down on her belief that Trump should be held accountable for his role in the insurrection, saying “we must go forward based on truth.”
“The violence and destruction of that day were the natural and predictable outcome of a President who had repeatedly rejected truth, lie after lie,” Cheney said.
“Over and over again, he told his supporters that the election had been stolen from him, that our institutions were corrupt, that our system was rigged.”
“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the crowd, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing,” she continued. “None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence.”
Cheney concluded by saying that “the words of a president matter” and calling Americans to “stick with the truth.”
While Cheney’s remarks were applauded by many Democrats they are sure to further enrage Trump and his supporters, who have already called for her to be removed from her leadership position in the House Republican caucus.
It remains to be seen whether Goldston’s involvement in the filming of Cheney’s speech will result in any legal repercussions. Still, the incident highlights the increasingly fraught relationship between the former president and his one-time ally.
Cheney spoke on her loss: “The great and original champion of our party, Abraham Lincoln, was defeated in elections for the Senate and the House before he won the most important election of all. Lincoln ultimately prevailed, saved our union, and defined our obligation as Americans for all of history.
“Speaking at Gettysburg of the great task remaining before us, Lincoln said, ”We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from this earth.” As we meet here tonight, that remains our greatest and most important task.
“Freedom must not, cannot, and will not die here. We must be very clear-eyed about the threat we face, and about what is required to defeat it. I have said since January 6, that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office, and I mean it.”
