Former United States Vice President Dick Cheney attended the Jan. 6 anniversary of the Capitol Hill riot on Thursday as many other Republicans were absent from the occasion and said that he was disappointed in the GOP leadership in the country.
Cheney, who is one of the Republican party's most prominent elder statesmen, said that he attended the event because it was historical and important. He said that no one could overestimate how important that day was for the country and its people.
Capitol Hill Riot Anniversary
In an interview with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl just off the House floor, Cheney added that the GOP did not have sufficient leadership to restore the Constitution. The former vice president noted that his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, was an exception.
Cheney said that Liz was the vice-chair of the House Select Committee responsible for investigating the events leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot. Liz has since come under fire from other Republicans for her position and actions, ABC News reported.
The event also had White House Speaker Nancy Pelosi leading a moment of silence on the House floor. While at the anniversary event, Cheney said that the Republican leadership was not the leadership that resembled any of the ones he knew when he was an active politician for 10 years.
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ABC News' Ben Siegel reported the moments when Democrats came over one by one to introduce themselves to Cheney and shake the former statesman's hand. White House correspondent Peter Baker of the New York Times said that there was something "surreal" about seeing Pelosi and other Democrats happily greeting their once bete noire. He said that the situation suggested former United States Donald Trump changed the nature of politics.
In an interview, Liz also said that the threat to the country's democracy "continues" and criticized other Republicans who were "looking the other way." The senator added that the situation was how democracies died and noted that we simply cannot let that happen, Yahoo News reported.
Dick and Liz Cheney
Cheney and his daughter Liz were reportedly the only Republicans that observed a moment of silence for the anniversary of the unprecedented Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot. They were the only two GOP members that were on the House floor when Pelosi called for the moment of silence on that day.
Liz was the number three House Republican before she was forcibly exiled from House leadership, a decision that was largely due to her criticism of former President Trump. She has argued that the Republican businessman had a role in both stoking the Capitol riot and continuing to lie about the 2020 presidential election results.
Now, Liz is the top Republican on the House Select Committee and has dedicated her time to investigating the Jan. 6 incident. Her appointment to the panel came after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy removed all of his picks following a dispute with Pelosi.
The former vice president, who also worked as Defense secretary under former President George H.W. Bush, co-wrote an op-ed with all living former Pentagon heads prior to Jan. 6, 2021, where he warned the military to stay out of any election disputes, Business Insider reported.
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